2nd Perfect Soldier
by Lunarkry Antares
Summary: 4 years have passed, the world was in a state of peace once again and Heero was learning how to be human but, with peace altered, fights and politics everywhere, can he? Chapter 14 up
1. Prologue : I'm the 2nd perfect soldier

Prologue.  
  
My first attempt on Gundam Wing. (Most probably the only one...) Takes place way after Endless Waltz. However, even though the narrator said after AC 196, mobile suits and Gundams were never seen again, he was wrong. During AC 199, just before New Year, a war erupted. And the preventers were at their wits end because the mysterious enemies they were up against had mobile suits.  
  
  
  
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December 27, After Colony 198  
  
A girl wandered around the cold streets of the busy earth street, holding a piece of paper in her hand, wearing a blank expression. She was wearing a simple t-shirt with tight leggings and a skirt and looked to be around 6 or 7. She had short, black hair and fair complexion.  
  
Suddenly, she stopped in front of a building and looked up. She went to an elevator and ascended to the top floor.  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!  
  
A man sat in his dark apartment, checking for any new e-mails and investigating anything that can become the world's threat. He saw an invitation to the Peacecrafts' New Year Party, he smiled slightly as he thought of a certain special someone. Suddenly, his eyes fell onto one particular e-mail and read through the message left for him. 'Dr.J's will...' It was programmed to be sent to Heero on that specific day. The message read as followed:  
  
"Heero,  
  
I may not be around when you read this but, I hope you will take whatever I say seriously and accept these last missions. First and foremost, I want to apologize for myself and on behalf of Odin Lowe for training you to be such a killer, we were ordered to and believe me, we had no choice. The order to train you was also for the benefit of the colony. And the outcome? You saw for yourself. However, it was at a price of you forgetting your emotions. I hope that you can find your humanity through the peaceful world you created.  
  
Last 2 missions: (1) Collect Wing and Wing Zero from you know where. (You can't trust the peaceful world, you know!) As for the second mission, the mission will come and find you.  
  
That is all. Take good care of yourself and may you find peace and happiness.  
  
Dr. J"  
  
After he finished reading it, Heero shut his monitor and sat in his dark room in silence. His head was calculating all possible reasons the professor could possibly have to give the message to him. "What is the second mission?" he thought out loud.  
  
"To prevent a war from occurring." His door was opened and a monotonous voice suddenly answered him from behind. He reached for his gun tucked behind him and pointed it to the door. The small girl shut the door and walked to him. "Heero Yuy, Pilot to Wing Zero?" Heero released the safety lock. She stopped.  
  
"Who are you?" he asked casually. Though she was just a girl, he will never take any chances.  
  
"I'm the mission." She answered, not tearing her eyes away from Heero and, his gun to be exact. "I was sent by Dr.J to search for you today. However, he no longer exists." She said as if reading a script. The way she talks somehow made Heero feel as if it was him talking. She talked like a soldier giving her reports to her commander. The only difference was her voice was feminine and she sounds as if she was whispering.  
  
"Dr.J sent you." It was a statement but she nodded anyway. Heero relocked the safety lock. "Let's go." He said to her, taking his jacket. She followed him from behind, not saying a word. Heero eyed her from the corner of his eyes and thought he liked the girl because she's exactly like him. Even when they drove to their destination, she remained silent. "Are you project perfect?" Heero suddenly asked. She nodded slightly.  
  
"I am to be the generation 2 perfect soldier." She stated. Heero looked away.  
  
"You want to kill someone?" Heero didn't turn to see her. She glanced at him. "Have you been trained to actually kill?"  
  
Slowly, she shook her head. "I was still under going the mental training when December 27th came." Heero smirked.  
  
"Good." She looked at him. Though her face was blank but she was giving him a questioning look. Heero glanced at her. "Killing is a man's work." He turned on the turbo engine and headed to their destination. She was silent.  
  
As they reached a silent and deserted area, the girl walked out and led him to a hidden door. She pushed in a few buttons and the door opened. Inside, was a huge lab. The feeling of the lab was sort of nostalgic to Heero for this is where he himself was trained and this was also where he first took a man's life away. The girl walked across the vast space (it was underground) and entered a non-gravitational hangar. Heero floated beside her, holding onto a rail.  
  
"You know this place, don't you?" he looked at her. "I saw the datas of you receiving your trainings here. Hell." She turned to him.  
  
Heero just gave off a small smirk and continued to follow her to where he knew, was the hangar to his 2 best friends. The girl pulled a switch and 2 huge doors opened. "I have received almost all the necessary trainings I need to be an assassin as well as to be a perfect soldier. But, this is the only task I am not able to learn." She stated to Heero. The door slid open to reveal Wing and Wing Zero, all brand new.  
  
Heero jumped to his first Gundam, Wing and then at Zero. He opened the cockpits and sure enough, everything was in its original state. 'But... that's impossible...' he thought. He turned to her. "Zero was destroyed." He stated. She shook her head.  
  
"Not anymore. I partially rebuilt him. The computer here received an automatic signal by Dr.J's death wave and started its reconstruction. All the while, I trained and at the same time helped in its reconstruction."  
  
Heero moved down and stood next to her. "So, you don't know how to pilot them." She nodded.  
  
"I must learn from the perfect soldier to be a perfect soldier. I was also ordered to follow no one's order but Heero Yuy." Heero narrowed his eyes at her.  
  
"Who ordered you to be 'it'?" he asked, folding his arms. She kept quiet and didn't look up at Heero. "I want every one of your detail, soldier." He finally said. She looked up at him.  
  
"I forgot my name. My age is 7. I started receiving trainings when I was 3. My parents were killed during a war when I was 2 years old. Dr.J was my training professor and Pierre Wallace was my trainer as yours was Odin Lowe. My specialty is close combat, shooting, hacking, gymnastic, disguise, piloting anything and a lot more. However, I haven't mastered the piloting of Wing or Zero with the ZERO system yet." She said briefly but clearly. Heero kept quiet. Seems like all her trainings were pretty much like his.  
  
"You don't know your name?" She shook her head no. "What do they call you?"  
  
"Kid?" she said. "Sometimes Pretty." Heero knitted his eyebrows and looked down at her. She looked Asian and Japanese like him. So, a Japanese name should do her good. He thought for a while.  
  
"How about Hera?" he asked. The name sounded out of Japanese but, he can't think of a better name. She nodded, agreeing.  
  
"Hera Yuy?" she asked. Heero kept quiet for a while and then shrugged.  
  
"Fine." He said, ruffling her hair. She found the gesture somehow amusing and cracked something which resembles a smile. 'So, she can smile.' He thought.  
  
"So, train me to pilot Wing using ZERO system." She said, the blank face returning.  
  
Heero looked at her and smirked. "Mission Accepted." They went into an observatory looking area, A.K.A the Control Unit. A lot of satellite- captured images were displayed on each monitor. Heero looked at each of the monitors. Suddenly something caught his eyes. The image was suddenly enlarged. He looked back and saw Hera typing on the computer,  
  
"I saw that too." She said. Heero nodded and turned his attention to the monitor. He could have sworn he was looking at a mobile suit. Suddenly, as if reading his mind, Hera stated the location of the monitor. "Latest model satellite, furthest from earth, a few light-years away. The satellite was positioned in its current location using the 'leap' technology of space crafts."  
  
"You are very talented." Heero admired her skills even at such a young age.  
  
She shrugged. "What do you expect? I'm the second perfect soldier. Besides, you were more or less like me when you were my age, even better."  
  
Heero turned away. "I've forgotten all that." Suddenly, he heard a familiar rumbling. He turned and saw a gate-like door slide open. It was getting nostalgic again. He suddenly saw flashbacks of Dr.J training him to use the ZERO system using the simulator.  
  
"Procedure complete." Hera stated behind him and hopped off the chair. She walked ahead of him into the room. As Heero stepped in, he noticed the interior was slightly modified. "This is the simulator for Wing and that is Zero's." She sat on a simulator tagged "WING" and pointed at her opposite labeled "0". "The simulator is connected to the real Gundam. Every reaction we make will be recorded." She informed him.  
  
"Fine." Heero jumped into the simulator seat which felt very much like Zero's cockpit and took off his jacket or he'll fry in it. "Don't go easy on me."  
  
"Never." She replied when their simulator doors shut. "Where will we fight?" she asked him.  
  
"Let me decide." Heero pushed some buttons and the screens in front of them suddenly displayed a huge field.  
  
"Nice choice." She said. She walked around the field with her Gundam.  
  
"Get a feeling of the controls and try experimenting with the thrusters, saber, boosters, shield and buster normally and as swiftly as you can." Heero ordered. She nodded and tried everything Heero ordered. After a few minutes, she mastered all the possible controls there was. She was a fast learner. "Good. Now, insert ZERO system." He ordered.  
  
Without any hesitation, she input the 4 digit word. She suddenly felt like a wild beast and every one of her nerves, muscles and instincts ordered her one thing: Destroy. She took out her saber and dashed at Heero who was already waiting. Their sabers clashed and their simulator seats shook and trembled like a real battle.  
  
"HYYYYAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!" she screamed and attacked Heero again and again. Though Heero hasn't piloted his gundam for 4 years and 2 days, but, he still has all his skills. It hasn't rusted, not one bit. He felt as if he was fighting Zechs. That just shows how skillful she was at handling the current gundam she's using.  
  
As the fight commenced, a million thoughts crossed Heero's head. '4 years ago, I promised myself that I'll never kill anyone, ever again. But... that's just because I thought I didn't need to. But, now, things are different... why?' he suddenly typed in Z-E-R-O. He felt the system coursing through him like morphine and dashed at the dashing Wing in front of him. With a war cry, he slashed Wing's arm off and continued to cut it in half horizontally. After a few seconds, his monitor read, "Mission Accomplished."  
  
Inside Hera's simulator, she was bewildered. Her screen turned black. And she was surrounded by darkness. She can hear Heero coming out of his simulator. She can hear him walk to the hatch and stopped. He knocked. "It's over." He said. "You can come out now."  
  
She opened the hatch and saw Heero's face looking down on her. His face wasn't hard and cruel. It was soft and sympathetic. She felt a huge sense of respect towards him. She looked up at him like a scared little puppy. Heero put his hand on her head. "You did well."  
  
She felt comfort when he did that gesture. "Thank you. Father." She said, surprising herself.  
  
Heero was kind of taken aback by the sudden title but threw his head back and laughed. She was surprised and looked up at him. He was smiling at her. "Will do, daughter." He said, ruffling her hair. She smiled back at him, something she has never done ever since she was 2.  
  
Then, they went back to Heero's apartment and the new father-daughter started their life as the perfect soldiers.  
  
  
  
To Be Continued...  
  
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Leave a review or two and tell me what you guys think about the whole story. Whacky? Weird? Cool? Nice? Unlogical? Do tell...  
  
And, I hope you guys enjoy reading this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it.  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


	2. New Year's Party Preparation

Standard disclaimers applied.  
  
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It was a day before New Year's Eve for year AC 199. Everyone seemed to be busy shopping, at homes, families come from different parts of the world and colonies to gather for a family reunion. Now, we concentrate on the busy household of the Peacecrafts'.  
  
"Sally!! Your cakes gonna' be toast!!!" Hilde Schbeiker yelled from the kitchen and after a few minutes, Sally Po rushed in, reflexively fanning the oven with her hand. Quickly, she took out a mitten and took out a semi- burnt looking cake. Hilde glanced over Sally's shoulder and whistled. "Congratulations."  
  
"Thanks a lot." Sally replied bitterly. She shook her head and sighed. "What am I gonna' do with this?"  
  
"Give it to Duo?" she suggested, wiping some plates.  
  
Sally raised an eyebrow. "Fought again?"  
  
Her companion shook her head. "Nu-uh. Just a little disagreement." She smiled. "Hey, how are you and Wufei doing? Are you 2 engaged already?"  
  
"Are you kidding? That man has an ego as big as the universe!" she said, exasperated. "But, he's okay. I won't put up with him for 4 years if I don't like him, you know."  
  
Hilde just nodded. "So, did you guys do 'it' already?" Sally looked at Hilde who gave her a 'well?' smile. She was about to answer when the kitchen door burst open.  
  
"Mmm... sweet." Quatre Raberba Winner cooed, holding Dorothy Catalona, who, in turn, was holding a chocolate bar. She bit another bite of the chocolate and went into a lip-lock with her Arabian prince. Sally and Hilde looked at each other and rolled their eyes.  
  
They cleared their throats together. "Ehem." The 2 lovers snapped their heads to them. Obviously, they were too deeply concentrating in each other that they didn't realise the 2 women inside. Quatre turned a bit red.  
  
"Uh, I'll go out and see what the guys are doing. See you later, sweetheart." He gave her a quick kiss followed by a playful lick on her lips which made her smile and redden. He winked before disappearing through the door. Dorothy turned and was met by Hilde and Sally's sly smiles.  
  
She ran her hand through her double eyebrows, "Jealous?" she said, before they all burst into laughter. As they laughed/giggled, Catherine Bloom entered the noisy kitchen, hands on her hips.  
  
"What? Am I missing something here?" the 3 laughed still but settled down.  
  
"Nothing big, Cathie, just Dorothy and Quatre." Sally filled her in.  
  
She raised her eyebrows, "Oh, that. I saw it as I was laying the table." She motioned outside. "You two seem to be doing well."  
  
"What can I say? We are helplessly in love with each other." She said, smiling and fantasizing. The 3 other women just looked away, hiding their smile for they were happy for their friend. Suddenly, Catherine's face turned grim.  
  
"Have any of you seen Heero?" she asked. The room fell silent and each shook their heads slowly. Suddenly, the door flung open and in came Relena, all smiles.  
  
"Good morning, girls. Lovely morning, don't you think?" they all turned to her. "I got a lot of things to do. Hey, did you burn that cake, Sally?" the former queen turned to Sally who had her hands on her hip, giving the cake a disgusted look.  
  
"Gee, Lena, thanks for noticing." She said. "Oh, by the way, have you invited Heero over?"  
  
"Heero?" Relena turned. "I think... yeah. I asked Duo to call him a few days ago." She replied. Then, she continued to ramble on and on about decorations, menu, presents, etc.  
  
Meanwhile, outside, the men were pretty busy. Duo was given the task to wash every window in the Peacecraft's mansion, Quatre was assigned to check around for any damages in and outside the house, helped by the Maguanacs, Trowa volunteered on preparing the electrical supply so that no black out will happen in the middle of the celebration while Wufei mowed the huge lawn.  
  
Quatre wiped a bead of sweat that fell on his eyebrows. "Phew... I wonder why did Ms. Relena ask us to do all the repairing? Where did her servants go?" he thought out loud to himself and it so happen that Duo Maxwell was playing monkey right above him.  
  
"Well, I heard she insisted that all her servants take a break and have a happy New Year's Day with their family and friends. Since we're her friends as well as family, she asked US to do all the work for her. Something about close-knitting our relationships." Duo replied.  
  
"I don't see Heero around. Did you guys manage to find him?" Trowa suddenly appeared, bringing a mechanic's toolbox.  
  
"Well, Relena asked me to send him an invitation, and I sure did. Now, it's up to him whether he wants to come or not." Suddenly, they heard a machine 'coughing' followed by a grunt coming from a Chinese man a few yards away from them. It was silent again.  
  
"Come on, work! This is injustice!" The Chinese ex-gundam pilot continued to grunt and grumble and curse trying to bring the wretched machine to work.  
  
"Check the oil tank, Wufei." Trowa called from the house. Wufei 'hmphed and continued his complaining, how he hates onnas who give him pathetic assignments, etc, etc. and walked towards the house.  
  
"Where did they put that stupid oil can?" he grumbled, walking past the trios and across the pool. As he bent down to find the can, the trios suddenly smiled mischievously at each other.  
  
"It's kind of a hot day, isn't it?" Trowa asked, pulling his collar with his index finger.  
  
"You bet." Replied his Arabian companion, who took off his hat.  
  
"What do you say if we go plunge in the pool or something?" Duo asked, taking off the coverall he was wearing.  
  
"Good idea." Quatre and Trowa said in unison. They walked to the pool QUIETLY. Wufei was grumbling and grunting away, giving his back to them. Finally, he saw what he was looking for.  
  
"Aha." He said triumphantly. Suddenly, he felt both his hands and legs grabbed from behind. "What the...?!!!" he was shocked and was soon angry when he heard the laughter of the 3 ex-Gundam pilots. "UNHAND ME AT ONCE!!!! THIS IS INJUSSSTIIIICCCEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and before he could utter a single word, he was thrown head-first into the pool. Trowa, Quatre and Duo laughed their heads off and rolled on the floor. "YOU ARE SOOO DEAD!!!!" Wufei jumped from the pool and attempted on pushing them into the pool but, he ended up chasing them around the house, across the lawn and through all the rooms in the mansion.  
  
The women in the kitchen heard yellings, laughter and crashings everywhere around the house. They looked out and saw Wufei running out the door at full speed. The women then ran to the kitchen window and saw Quatre, Duo and Trowa laughing as they ran. Wufei suddenly chased them with his katana and sliced anything and everything in his way. Including...  
  
"MY ROSE BUSH!!!!!!!!" Relena shrieked. Everyone froze as they heard the shrill scream and within a nanosecond, saw Relena kneeling in front of a barely recognizable rose bush. She turned her head. "Wu... Fei..." she said in a ghastly voice.  
  
Inside, Sally saw Relena's blood veins popped out on her temples. "I'll go get the Tranquilizer gun." She said as she turned to the kitchen's door. From the kitchen, the 3 women looked at the sight before them. Trowa, Duo and Quatre were chased by Wufei with a katana who was chased by Relena with a pair of huge hedge clippers. They sweatdropped heavily. Noin came in.  
  
"What is going on here?" she asked, looking around the messy household.  
  
Dorothy pointed outside the kitchen. "See for yourself." Noin ended up rolling her eyes.  
  
"Somebody get the tranquilizer gun."  
  
"Don't worry, Sally's at it." Catherine told her and went back to cooking, in fact, everyone did.  
  
"Where's His Highness Milliardo?" Hilde asked the soon-to-be Mrs. Peacecraft.  
  
"He still has some work to do and Une wanted him for something."  
  
"Ooh, better keep a close eye on him." Dorothy said, winking. Noin just 'hmph'ed and started to help cooking.  
  
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Meanwhile, as they were merrily enjoying themselves, another situation was getting more than just 'merry' in another part of the world.  
  
"The system has been malfunctioned. We can escape through the route here. It will take precisely 2 minutes to run down there given addition and subtractions of errors." Hera looked up at Heero from the palm-top she was holding. "That gives us exactly 20 minutes to go in and out of this place." Heero was surveying their surrounding and then bent down.  
  
"Mission Accepted." He replied. He reloaded his gun and passed/threw Hera some ammo. "Remember, no casualties." She nodded. They ran in separate ways and were met by all sorts of possible security guards, laser beams and traps.  
  
All the while, Hera managed to pass the securities without killing anyone by shooting their legs. Heero was greeted by open fire everywhere he runs to and a bullet caught him in the arm. He didn't even flinch but shot at whoever there was to shoot at. Then, he reached his destination. "Hera, do you read?"  
  
Suddenly, the monitor displayed his foster-daughter's face. "I didn't kill anyone, Current Location: North wing"  
  
"Good girl. My CL is West wing. Now, download all files available and delete their copy, while I set bombs." He can see her typing furiously even before he finished his sentence. She nodded and the screen turned black. Heero went to some rooms and set the time to 5 minutes. Then, he reloaded his guns, returned fire once the security guys open fire.  
  
Hera was intently doing her part of the job and within 5 minutes, all datas has been copied. "Virus sending. Sending procedure complete." She said as she stopped typing, took the CD rom used to copy the data and dashed to the exit route. Lucky for her, all attention was concentrated on Heero so, her side was nothing but clean.  
  
She reached outside and ran to find a shelter. As she found one, she saw her father running, shooting, hiding, zigzagging, throwing bombs, etc to the guards. She looked at her watch. "10 seconds to explosion. 10... 9... 8... 7... 6..." she count downed.  
  
"5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." Heero continued from his hiding place which was a few yards from Hera.  
  
"Zero." Both said. The building exploded but not massively that it destroys the whole building. The bomb only caused some rooms in the building to be on fire. As the guards and other officials in and outside of the building hustled and bustled, Heero walked with Hera away from the scene coolly.  
  
"Mission Accomplished." They both said in unison.  
  
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"I understand, but the explosion must have been done by some rebels, sir." Lady Une said, talking/arguing on the phone as Milliardo Peacecraft watched the news of the bombing of the New Colony's ambassador. "Yes, we will look into this matter, good day." Une put down the phone and sighed.  
  
"Giving you a hard time again?" Milliardo asked.  
  
She sighed again. "We have to send someone to go investigate this. What's worse, it's occurring a day before New Year's Eve! And I promised Mariemaia to bring her to that party..."  
  
Milliardo looked at the woman sympathetically. "Lady Une, if you'd allow me, I'll take on the job."  
  
"No. You are the most important person to be in the party. Noin and Relena'll kill me if I let you investigate. I will not have it, understood, preventor wind?" Une asked sternly. Her companion just smiled at her. A knock came from Une's office and it was one of the crew workers.  
  
"Lady Une, we have received the security tape faxed by the L3 colony. (that's where the explosion occurred)" he saluted and handed the tape to Milliardo. With another salute, he left.  
  
"Well, let's see what we can find." Une sighed tiredly. "Can't these people just live in peace rather than dissatisfaction of everything?"  
  
"Unfortunately, Lady Une, not everybody thinks like you."  
  
********************************************  
  
Hera sat in the co-pilot seat, typing away as Heero tend to his wound. Their shuttle was heading to earth and they were on their way to the New Year's Day Party in an auto-pilot mode. "As expected, L3 has something to do with that project." Heero looked at her palm top's screen.  
  
"Put it on the main monitor." He ordered. She did so and a bulletin copy was displayed.  
  
"Unfortunately, L3 is only their financial centre. The factories, in which they use to develop whatever they were developing, mostly feared by us, mobile suits, were done somewhere else."  
  
"The galaxy-satellite." Heero guessed and she nodded. Heero rubbed his chin.  
  
Hera gazed on the monitor and pointed to a man who was smiling and shaking hands with the leader of the Unified Nations. "Who's he?" she asked. Heero looked at who she was pointing and saw a man whom he saw a few times on TV and has grown to be more popular these days.  
  
"Zeimer Wargon. Recently won the voting as the Peace ambassador for L3, that's where Quatre's from." Heero inquired.  
  
"Quatre Raberba Winner, Pilot of Sandrock?" she asked. Heero looked at her from bandaging his arm and just nodded. "I'll go change." She said and floated to the back of the shuttle and closed the door behind her, "It's been rumored that Zeimer has been seeing Ms. Peacecraft."  
  
Heero turned to the man known as Zeimer and narrowed his eyes as a tinge of jealousy suddenly surfaced in him.  
  
As she said that, she came out, wearing a skirt and a blouse with a scarf tied around her neck. She looked like an ordinary school girl if not for her expressionless face which occasionally smiles at him. "Don't let your emotions get the better of you."  
  
"Hmph. Who are you to tell me that?" Heero said and finished bandaging his arm.  
  
"Just telling." She said and sat in the co-pilot seat again. "I'll investigate about this man." She informed him. Heero said nothing but just stared at outer space. A lot of things have changed about him.  
  
**************************************************  
  
At the Peacecraft's mansion, everyone was busy cleaning the house. The men were all calm now; each assigned to be with their partners. (e.g., Duo/Hilde, Dorothy/Quatre, Trowa/Catherine, Wufei/Sally). Noin was tuning the piano in the living room when the doorbell rang. "Coming!" she said and opened the door.  
  
"Heero!" Duo exclaimed happily from behind Noin before she could say anything. He was holding a huge vase and Hilde was holding it from the other side. "Hey everyone!! Look who's here!" he called out to everyone upstairs.  
  
"Come on in, Heero, glad you can make it." Noin chirped happily. He nodded to Noin in acknowledgement and turned to his car, calling someone.  
  
"Thank you, Noin." He said, turning to her. Noin had a look of surprise when she saw Hera walk to them. "This is Ms. Noin." He told the girl who curtsied at her but didn't say anything. The others came down and each had surprised looks.  
  
Duo whistled. "Hey Heero, I didn't know you like kids." He said who got nudged by Hilde. "Ow. Hilde..."  
  
Heero took off his shades. "Sorry I'm late, I had work to do."  
  
All of them 'duh'ed and Quatre was the first to talk, "We thought as much. Don't worry about it." Heero looked around but didn't see Relena or Milliardo.  
  
"I brought some stuffs, mind to help?" he said.  
  
Trowa smirked. "You bringing stuffs? This I got to see." He went to the door, followed by Wufei, Quatre and Duo. They chat for a bit as they walked and Duo gave Heero a playful 'slap' on the back which caused him to 'accidentally' kick Duo's foot, causing him to sprawl on the floor.  
  
"So, what did you bring? Handguns? Grenades? Canons?" Wufei asked sarcastically.  
  
"Wufei, Wufei, Wufei, since when do you joke?" Heero returned the sarcasm. All of the guys (except Wufei laughed). Wufei turned red and started saying injustice you, injustice peace, injustice sarcasm, etc, etc.  
  
"That's a good one, Heero. This peaceful world taught you a thing or two, huh?" Quatre asked, placing his hand on Heero's shoulder.  
  
"I'm still learning." He replied.  
  
"At a boy, Heero," Duo slinged his arm on Heero's shoulder and walked to his car. Hera was alone in the house, watching as they went to the car.  
  
"So, do you have a name?" Sally asked Hera.  
  
"Hera, Hera Yuy." She said, barely in a whisper. Sally's eyes grew big and so did the other women.  
  
"Yuy? What are you, his sister?" Catherine asked the little girl.  
  
"Daughter." She replied plainly. The women looked at each other. "I officially become his daughter only a few days ago." She told them. If Heero put his guard down around these people that just means how much he trusts them. So, why won't she?  
  
"Oh, I get it." Dorothy suddenly said. "Foster daughter." She said to all of them. Noin nodded.  
  
"Well, Hera, allow me to introduce all of us, this is Dorothy, Hilde and Catherine" she pointed to each of them as she said their name. Before she can say another word, yellings can be heard from outside and followed by a huge splash. All the women sighed.  
  
"There they go again..." Dorothy said, running her fingers across her eyebrow as she walked into the kitchen.  
  
"Well, don't worry; the guys are ALWAYS like that, trust me. So, you wanna' help bake some cookies?" Hilde asked her with a wink. She nodded and followed them to the kitchen.  
  
Outside, Wufei and Quatre were already in the pool, looking at Duo, Trowa and Heero. It started when Duo suggested a little wrestling competition to see who is the fittest ex-pilot around. They all shook on 500 bucks. Wufei and Quatre were now out. Duo attempted to push Heero into the pool since they cornered him but Heero sidestepped and tripped Duo into the pool.  
  
"SHIT!!" Duo cursed. Quatre and Wufei laughed at the braided guy.  
  
Trowa was the last and was now circling with Heero. They looked like 2 lions fighting. Suddenly, Trowa back flipped, surprising Heero and rammed himself to Heero using an extra boost from the pillar behind him. Heero intercepted him and suddenly rolled on his back, using the force Trowa used and pushed Trowa with his legs. Trowa fell into the pool. He resurfaced, his unibang covered his face, and he pushed it aside.  
  
Heero threw his head back and laughed. The others were dumbfounded. "Looks like I win." He exclaimed.  
  
"Heero, did you just... laugh?" Duo asked. Heero shrugged.  
  
"Learning to be human." He said in a matter-of-factly. "That's 500 bucks." He snickered as Duo gets laughed at by the other guys.  
  
"Okay, okay!! Fine! Later, okay?"  
  
"Well, Maxwell, you've gone rusty."  
  
"Look who's talking." Duo pouted. "Hey, Heero, you're gonna give us a hand or not?" Duo asked, putting his hands on his hip. Heero shrugged and stretched out his hand towards the guys when he noticed one of them missing.  
  
"Where's Trowa?" he asked. Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed his legs and Duo pulled Heero's hand, causing him to plunge into the pool. They laughed at the perfect soldier who was now soaked and glared daggers at every one of them.  
  
Inside, Hera was having trouble reading the cook book. "1 tsp? Is that a code?" she asked, turning to Sally.  
  
Sally giggled at the small girl. "It's teaspoon dear." Hera looked up at Sally and nodded slowly. 'Why are these people being so nice? Don't they realize that peace can never last forever?' she thought. As she continued to follow the cook book, (and progressing well at that) the door opened and giggles can be heard.  
  
"Ah, that's Relena." Noin said. "Hera, could you follow me please?" she asked, gesturing the girl to follow her. She obeyed. Noin opened the door and saw Relena walking in with someone or rather, being intimate with someone. Noin couldn't believe what she was seeing! "Relena?" she asked, quite surprised.  
  
"Oh, Lucy. You know, Zeimer." Relena introduced, smiling to the charming looking man. "Zeimer, my sister-in-law-to-be, Lucrezia Noin." The man nodded and smiled at Noin. Hera looked up at the man but didn't say anything. "Noin, who's this? Mariemaia's friend?"  
  
Noin was about to answer when Hera stepped forward and curtsied to the 2. "My name is Hera Yuy, it's a pleasure." She said in her whispy soft voice. Relena's eyes went wide.  
  
"Hera... Yuy?" she asked. Suddenly, the door behind her opened and in came 5 men, carrying a lot of things and soaking wet. As they entered, they noticed the man and Relena. The 4 gundam pilots looked at each other and then at Heero who was looking at Relena. Relena did not do anything except looked back at him.  
  
"Well, hello. You must be Heero Yuy." The man earlier introduced as Zeimer greeted, smiling at Heero. He didn't say anything but nodded. Then, he decided that the reunion party shouldn't be spoiled because of him. He turned to Hera, "Hera, help me carry these inside." He said quietly, not showing any emotions.  
  
"Yes, father." She said and went to get some of the stuffs from Heero and carried them into the store room. Heero walked past Relena and Zeimer. The other ex-gundam pilots followed suit. Hera put down everything and turned to her father. She can tell what he was feeling and pulled his hand so that he'll bend down. 'Don't let your emotions get the better of you.' she whispered into his ear.  
  
Heero smiled a little and ruffled her hair. "Go and help in the kitchen or something." She nodded and went. The ex-gundam pilots stood in the store room, looking at the girl walk off.  
  
"Say, uh, it's getting, cold. We ought to change." Duo suddenly said. The others agreed and went to the changing room where they kept their bags to stay overnight in Relena's mansion. None of them said anything. As they were changing, Quatre was the first to speak up.  
  
"Heero, I..." he started. "I don't know what to say to you now but..." Heero held up his hand and turned to his fellow pilot.  
  
"She's just moving on. And, she's right. I've never been true to her. I've been a coward, running from the feeling alien to me, hoping that I will be able to return the feeling she have for me someday. But, when I realized it, it's too late." He said bitterly though he didn't show it. He took out a stack of beer from his bag, pulled one for himself and tossed the others the rest. They each took a can and gulped it. "I envied you guys." He said.  
  
"Hmph. You sure have changed, Heero." Wufei suddenly smirked. "It's like talking to a different man all together." The other 3 glared at Wufei. "What?" he asked earnestly.  
  
"Zip it, Wufei." Duo warned him, "Consider yourself lucky Sally still stays with you despite that attitude of yours."  
  
"Does that make YOU any better, Maxwell?"  
  
"You mocking me, Chinese man?" Duo stood up, ready to fight.  
  
"I thought you'll never ask." Wufei replied, clicking his knuckles. Trowa and Quatre stood up quickly to quell the fight. Heero continued to sit against the wall, drinking away. He suddenly remembered what Hera said to him earlier. 'Don't let your emotions get the better of you.' his lips curved into a ghostly smile. He finished the beer, crushed it in his hand and threw it to Wufei which landed squarely on his head. The noise died down.  
  
"Don't worry Wufei, I'm still the man you guys know 4 years ago. Only difference is I'm better and improved." Heero sat up. Quatre smiled.  
  
"That's the spirit, Heero. I'm so... proud of you." suddenly, he took out a handkerchief and blew his nose. Trowa patted him on the back. Heero smirked and walked out.  
  
To Be Continued... 


	3. A Sad, Sad New Year

Standard disclaimers applied. I don't own Gundam, neither do I earn anything out of this but I do hope people are reading this!!!!  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Heero walked out and was greeted by a silence. Relena kept looking away from him as Zeimer cuddled with her. Hera was nowhere in sight, perhaps she was in the kitchen. Heero excused himself and went to the balcony. Someone else was already there.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Heero asked.  
  
"I don't suit this type of gatherings." Hera replied simply, typing away on her palm-top. "Is this your family?" she turned to Heero. Who rolled his eyes and hung his head, looking down the balcony.  
  
"You accessed my log?"  
  
"I'd call it a diary." She replied. She turned to him. "Dad, why is it that we're both perfect soldiers and yet can still have emotions? I thought rule number 1 was demolish all feelings." She asked him with a serious face. Heero turned his body sideways so he's facing Hera. It's time to be a teacher.  
  
As the two talked, some people came to the party, Zechs, Une and Mariemaia. Une was brought to the kitchen by Dorothy leaving Zechs and Mariemaia looking around the room.  
  
"Milliardo, how are you doing?" Zeimer stood up and shook hands with Zechs. "I thought the Preventers NEVER take a break." He smiled.  
  
"I didn't know politicians do either." Zechs returned the sarcasm. Sparks seem to fly out of each others' eyes as they shook/gripped hands. Relena looked at the 2 in the balcony, oblivious to her surrounding. They were talking. For some strange reason, she felt her heart cringe when Heero saw her and Zeimer as they came. She can't believe she can still stay and face him. But, there's a thing she must make clear to him and she inhaled deeply; and walked to the balcony, realizing all eyes on her.  
  
"Perfect soldiers are only needed in the battlefield. Outside of battle, we have to try to be human. I was taught by my teacher a long time ago to follow my heart. And heart is the place where feelings grow, isn't it?" Hera knitted her eyebrows but nodded. Heero cocked his head. "Do you understand?"  
  
"You mean, we CAN have emotions?" she asked. Heero smirked. This conversation looked familiar. He talked to Duo as they were now 2 years ago. Funny, he asked the very same question.  
  
"Who decides you to live or die? It's up to you." Heero replied. "Whether you want it or not." Hera seem to ponder about this for a bit. "Trust me, I've learnt this the hard way. It took me 4 years to understand it. Make sure you don't make the same mistake I did." He ruffled her hair. She chuckled. Heero raised his eyebrows.  
  
"Is my laugh okay?" she asked.  
  
Heero smiled. "Good start." Suddenly. He sensed someone approaching them from the corner of his eyes. Hera also looked at his gaze. It was Relena.  
  
"Relena Darlian Peacecraft, ex-pilot to Heero Yuy, perfect soldier's heart." She received a death glare from Heero. "I'll go and find a quiet place to type or gather info." She said quite teasingly and went.  
  
As Relena approached him, he felt a sensation he's never felt before in his stomach. 'Must be another human reaction,' he thought. That's what he always say to himself whenever a new feeling appeared in him.  
  
"Hi." Relena greeted, her voice sounding shaky.  
  
"Relena." He said. She walked and stood next to him, looking at the night's clear sky.  
  
"You made it." She tried to open up a conversation.  
  
"Hn." Heero replied automatically. He's been pretty good in dealing with his feelings for the past years and he can somehow switch personality from the perfect soldier to Heero Yuy and back. It surprised him at first but quickly got used to it.  
  
At that time, Relena was getting more and more frustrated. Her heart was already feeling guilty as it is and Heero's not helping. 'Say something, damn it!!' she screamed in her head. Heero observed her from the corner of his eyes.  
  
"Heero sure took things easy, doesn't he?" Catherine whispered to her lover, distributing some cookies. Trowa turned from the little group's (ex- gundam pilots') game of Jenga (a game where a lot of wooden/plastic blocks stacked up then, each player must, in turns, pile one block from the bottom to the top and the one to make the stack fall loses.) to the balcony and just shrugged.  
  
Outside, it was deadly silent. Hera was watching them from the corner of her eyes. 'It's starting.' She thought quietly.  
  
Meanwhile, inside the kitchen, Une and Dorothy were having a little 'business' talk. "You're saying Heero is responsible for the explosion?" Dorothy asked, not believing her ears. Une nodded slowly, drinking a glass of Scotch. "But... they've... he... all worked so hard to attain peace, why would he...?" Une sighed and sat on the counter.  
  
"Zechs and I trust Heero, he must have had a reason to this. Unfortunately, the Earth Sphere has been sent a copy of the hidden camera's record. God knows who sent it to them but they just knew. We're trying to convince Mr. Wader (Earth Sphere leader) that he was doing it for a good cause but... as bad as it sounds, it wasn't convincing enough."  
  
Dorothy knitted her eyebrow. "So, what will they do? Arrest him?"  
  
Une looked at her with a grim look. "I hope they'll just do that because, I just found out that a new law has been issued." Une said and turned Dorothy who was as shocked as she was when she first heard of the news.  
  
In the balcony, Relena gathered all her courage and faced Heero. "Look, Heero. There's no point for me to hide anything because it has been more than clear for you to understand but, it'll be a lot better for me to tell you..." she started. Heero didn't move a muscle. He kept on staring at the forest below him.  
  
Relena took a deep breath and turned away from him. "Since you disappeared 3 years ago, I asked all the gundam pilots and the preventors to search for you. They've checked practically all over the world and colonies but to no avail. Only when you rescued me a few months after your disappearance were they able to track you, thanks to a detecting device. I must say, you're so, very good at hiding." She paused for a little while before continuing.  
  
"As I waited for you and get to meet you only during New Year's Day, which you came twice only or Christmas which you came only once or when I'm in danger, which seldom happen these days, I never get to see nor hear from you. Don't you realise the hell you've put me through?!" she turned around to see him. Tears glistened in her eyes. "I missed you." she said softly.  
  
Heero shut his eyes this time. "Relena..." he started.  
  
"But, Zeimer came." Heero's eyes snapped open and looked at her, his heart was raging with a storm but his face... blank. She was looking straight into him. "He was there for me all the time. During my lonely days, my sickly days, my broken days missing you, when I'm troubled, everything. He's able to give me something you have never been able to give me : Love." Heero suddenly gave Relena the ever familiar Heero-glare and she shut up but did not tear her eyes away from him; she just can't.  
  
He walked to her and stood very close to her. Suddenly, the balcony door opened and Zeimer rushed in, delivering a blow which was easily evaded by Heero.  
  
"Zeimer!" Relena cried, surprised. Zeimer stood in front of Relena protectively and pointed to Heero's face.  
  
"Stay away from her. Her life's already fine the way it is. You just HAD to come and ruin it didn't you? Don't you realise that she invited you over just for the sake of sympathy knowing you are a dangerous killer?" Heero continued to stare at him, not blinking, nor moving.  
  
"Zeimer..." Relena started but was cut by him.  
  
"I may not be a soldier like you, neither will I be able to protect her from continuous harm which I myself is exposed to, but, fact is fact Yuy, what do you have that can promise her of something?- nothing."  
  
"Hey, hey, break it up, Zeimer, Heero's changed, okay?" Duo suddenly appeared from behind and stood up for his friend, pushing Zeimer a distant away from his best friend. "That was a mean thing to say. He had his own reasons to every action he did. So, mind your language when you're talking to my pal."  
  
"A man should speak with what he's worth and not just air." Wufei chimed in, standing in front of Heero.  
  
Trowa came and stood next to Heero. "Besides, if you call Heero a killer, that simply means you're putting us along with him. Because, all of us were killers." He put a hand on Heero's shoulder.  
  
"What is this?" Zeimer suddenly asked, looking shocked. "You know I'd never refer you guys as lowly as him. You guys are my friends, my protectors."  
  
"Then, make Heero your friend too, after all, we're no better than him." Quatre appeared, arms folded and stood in front of Heero. Zeimer looked disgusted.  
  
As they stared at each other waiting for replies while the others, who were not involved in the argument just sat and watched in shock, Heero felt that he was unwanted there but at the same time, felt happy that all his friends stood up for him. "Excuse me." he said softly and left the balcony.  
  
Suddenly, Lady Une appeared in front of him, "Heero, I..." she hung her head. Heero brushed past her and headed for the door.  
  
"Freeze Yuy." A voice suddenly said from behind accompanied by a gun click. It was Zechs' unmistakable voice. Heero turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder and saw a gun pointed at him. They were less than 2 metres apart. If he attempts to escape, he might get shot.  
  
"Milliardo, please, not in the house." Noin pleaded. But, Zechs heed not of her pleas.  
  
"Heero Yuy, I hereby put you under arrest for the riot caused in L3 earlier this evening." He said in a growling voice. "Put your hands on the back of your head and lie on the floor, face down." He ordered. Heero didn't move at first. "Don't make me repeat myself, Yuy."  
  
As Zechs barked orders, Heero was planning his escape. 'The door might be locked, that leaves me...' he thought silently. Then, he put his hand behind his head and bent his knees to lie on the floor. But, as he neared the ground, he sprung to his feet and dashed to the balcony. When Zechs released a shot, he was already gone.  
  
"Damn it!" Zechs cursed and went to the door which was somehow blocked from the other side. He rammed the door but it didn't even budge. Wufei looked out of the window and saw Heero running to his car.  
  
"Don't waste your time, Zechs. He's escaped." Sally went to stand next to him but was just in time to see the car start and zoom away. Everyone fell silent.  
  
Hera was looking at her watch. Suddenly, she heard rustlings from the forest. She stretched over and started the engine. Heero came in a second later and zoomed off. Hera took out her palm-top. "Head for the hideout, father."  
  
Heero fell silent for a while before replying, "Roger."  
  
To Be Continued... 


	4. Cooperation, Misunderstanding, Distrust

Standard disclaimers applied.  
  
I hope to see some reviews coming if I am to upload the next chapter!!  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!  
  
Relena looked out of her bedroom's window. Heero used to sit on her balcony, gazing at her, protecting her at night. A guardian angel in the dark. She opened the door and went out. The night's air was fresh and cool and it blew her long, honey blonde hair back like silk threads.  
  
Dinner earlier that evening was a disaster. It almost seem like a funeral. All the 4 ex-Gundam pilots were silent, so were Milliardo. Even though their partners tried to open them up from time to time, they'd only receive a nod, a head shake or a shrug or they simply zone out. Not a word came from their mouth ever since Heero jumped off the balcony. Not even Duo and Quatre. It simply ended when the men excused themselves to retire to bed and their partners, knowing better than to just leave them, followed. Leaving Relena, Zeimer, Mariemaia, Noin (Lucy), Une and Zechs.  
  
Relena sighed and looked at the sky. She saw 2 shooting stars. 4 years ago, she saw him in the sky for the very first time and since then, they've went through a lot together. She was all head over heels for him but, time has taken its toll and her fragile heart simply just can't take it anymore. If she keeps on hoping like a little girl hoping for Santa to come and give her a present, she'll only end up wasting her time. She couldn't possibly do that for nothing, no way! But, she does still have feelings for Heero. One thing she's been trying to demolish completely ever since a year ago.  
  
"Why does this have to happen to me...?" she sighed out loud as tears slowly formed in her eyes. "Why... Heero?" she asked to the sky and pictured the fun times they were together during war. Suddenly, she felt someone else's presence and turned to see Zeimer looking at her at the balcony door. "Zeimer..." she wiped away the lone tear in her eyes.  
  
"Relena..." he started but didn't move. "Excuse me." He said and headed for the door. Relena saw his retreating figure and raced to him.  
  
"Zeimer, wait." She said and grabbed his wrist. "Please stay." She pleaded. "First, Heero, then my best friends, now, you? Everybody hates me now but, please, I can't have you to leave me, please, Zeimer...?" She pleaded, eye glistening with sadness and loneliness. Zeimer turned and held her cheeks with both his hands, rubbing away the tears with his thumbs.  
  
"I'm so sorry that it turned out like this." He stated. "Should I know I will cause all this, I won't have come here and..."  
  
"Sh..." She placed a finger on his lips. "No more. Just stay with me." she said and replaced her finger with her lips. Zeimer returned the kiss and slowly ran his hand up and down her back. Suddenly, as his hands went lower, she stopped and pulled away. "I'm sorry." She breathed and walked a few spaces away from him. "This is happening too fast. I don't think..." Zeimer looked at her but said nothing.  
  
"I understand, Lena. He who holds your heart is still him, I can't compete with that. I don't stand a chance against the perfect soldier." He looked away.  
  
Relena smiled. "Give me time and I'll be sure to change that. But, for now, good night, Zeimer."  
  
"Sweet dreams, beautiful." He blew her a kiss and went out. Outside, he was met by Zechs. "Milliardo. Her heart is still confused." He sighed and shook his head. "And I thought I can help her."  
  
"Don't worry. I'll catch that guy no matter what. I never liked him anyway. But, you know, Relena..." he explained. Zeimer just chuckled.  
  
"Oh, by the way, Milliardo, how's the foundation money doing?" he asked.  
  
*****************************************************  
  
In the old laboratory, where Hera lived in, Heero was at work, typing away ferociously. Hera walked in and brought some CDs. "Here." She said but didn't get any reply except for more typing. "Father."  
  
"What." Heero growled.  
  
"Nothing, just a roll call." She replied sarcastically, earning a death glare from Heero. He returned to his work. "I may not be a mind reader but I do know what you're thinking about. I told you not to get your emotions get the better of you." she tilted her head slightly and waited for a response.  
  
Heero paused from his typing for a bit and then turned to her. "Are you done? I still have a lot of things to do." Heero suddenly said. Hera didn't even budge but neither did she stop. She stared at him intensely.  
  
"You are clouded by emotions. It is controlling you." She inserted the CD in her hand into the CPU to the PC Heero was using. Heero didn't put the datas on the monitor. "Stop it. I have done a thorough research to Zeimer Wargon. You'll find nothing more about him anywhere." Heero continued typing away. She was about to bend down to pull the PC's cables when a gun clicked at the side of her forehead and with lightning fast speed, another click arrived on Heero's forehead. Hera slowly stood up and backed a few steps away, still pointing the gun at Heero, vice versa.  
  
They were both silent for 10 whole minutes before sighing and putting down their guns simultaneously. Heero sighed again. "Sorry." He said, tucking his gun back.  
  
"I'm sorry too. That Relena must have been a big part of you, huh?" she asked. Heero said nothing but stood up and walked to the door. "Where are you going?" The door shut and she was left alone in the control room. She turned and went to see the monitor, at what Heero was working at. She saw numerous securities which have been 'lock-picked' and disabled by Heero. 'Preventor's HQ? Why'd he want to go there?' she thought to herself.  
  
At the Preventor's HQ, Lady Une sat alone in her office, a stack of maps and a couple of computers surrounding her. 'If Heero was responsible for the riot, there has to be a reason to it. But, where can there be for a place of rebels?' A knock on the door came. "Come in. Une answered.  
  
A soldier walked in. "Ma'am." He saluted. Une looked at the soldier.  
  
"Yes? Any reports that I must know?" She returned to look down on the maps and papers.  
  
"Yes, there is." A frighteningly familiar voice answered her. Her head snapped up to see the soldier take off his hat.  
  
"Heero! How... never mind." She said, startled. She was wondering how on earth did he get in there, a reflex question to any ordinary people but, she suddenly remembered he wasn't just any 'ordinary people'. "What brought you here? Planning to take me hostage?" she asked.  
  
"I've come to warn you."  
  
"Ooh, a threat. Let's hear it." She mocked, putting her hand under her chin.  
  
He smirked. "I'm not a terrorist. I did what I did for a reason. Aside from that, I need your cooperation."  
  
"So, what else is new?" she looked down at the papers and held out a stack to show him. "Why do you think would I be doing here this late if not to investigate the cause of your 'riot'?"  
  
"Listen, the preventors are responsible to stop battles from happening but it seems that these days, you all are taking your jobs too lightly." Heero said, slightly raising his voice.  
  
"We are taking our jobs too lightly? I think you haven't been reading the news lately. We have successfully stopped any possible riots as well as wars from happening since 3 years ago up until now. And you still say we are taking our jobs too lightly?" she raised her voice.  
  
Heero continued to listen with his arms crossed. "Are you done? I'm not done talking yet." Heero muttered. "The 'wars' you stopped were nothing. I'll bet you didn't realise that mobile suits are being manufactured right now." Une's ears perked up.  
  
"What? That's impossible. We have checked every nook and cranny. And we do it quite frequently for the past years. There's no way ANYBODY can make suits without us knowing. Besides, all metallic, Ivorian or even Gundanium alloys are strictly monitored by Quatre, Zechs and myself. Noin has been running radar search, heat search, everything. You must have been mistaken." Heero raised his eyebrows.  
  
"You're saying I'm lying?"  
  
She looked at him and sighed. "All right, so you said that Mobile Suits are being manufactured, exactly, where?" she asked in a mocking tone. "And who is behind it? Have you found any clues as of yet and have you any evidence of any sort?"  
  
Heero was quiet for a minute before answering. "It's not in the colonies nor on earth. It is in Galaxy 2, a few lightyears away from here, Galaxy Alpha." He answered. Une had a 'you're joking, right?' look but Heero kept on anyway. "And the man responsible is Zeimer Wargon. His financial company rose recently and upon more investigation,..." Une held up her hand and stood up.  
  
"That's enough, Heero. I understand now." She said. Heero had a questioning look. She sighed. "Heero, it's only normal if you place false accusations on him because of your jealousy." Heero rolled his eyes. "I know you secretly do love Relena deeply but, putting revenge on her by striking on Zeimer is not the way. I'm sorry but, all I can see here is that your actions are based on your confused mind. Guards!" She called. "I'm sorry, Heero but, you're now under arrest for charges of rebelling and for mental disturbances." The guards called didn't come in. "I should have known..." she shook her head. "You found the secret security too, huh?"  
  
"Lady Une, if you do not agree on assisting me, then I have to do this on my own." Heero turned to leave.  
  
"I'm only trying to keep you safe by putting you in, Heero. Both Zechs and I are trying to help you." Heero looked at her, hand on the door handle. "With you roaming about causing riots, you'll only make things harder for us and yourself."  
  
"Then let me just tell you this Une, I don't need your help and I'm not crazy." He went, leaving Une alone. She slumped on her seat.  
  
'This is crazy..." She said to nobody in particular. "Hm?" From the corner of her eye, she saw a big, stuffed sack. She took out an explosive detector from her drawer and inspected the bag. 0%. 'How did this thing get here?' she thought. She opened the sack slightly and saw a lot of presents in it. All had a simple writing of their names on it. She recognized it as Heero's handwriting. She took out a parcel with her name and tore it open.  
  
Inside was a beautiful watch with diamonds around the numbers and was white gold. 'Good taste.' She thought. 'Never thought Heero can shop.' She looked at the other parcels. 'I better deliver these as well then... Thank you, Heero.' She took her car keys and the sack before going off.  
  
Heero returned to the laboratory. Hera was at the computer, drinking a can of carbonated drink. Heero past her chamber and walked to his when she suddenly said, "Zeimer Wargon will appear with Relena Peacecraft in the charity rising of promoting peace in L2." She turned her head to the door. "There'll be a carnival. How about it?" she asked. An annoyed sigh replied her. She smiled slightly. "I think so too." She said before turning to the PC. "I wonder how the Mobile Suits are...?"  
  
  
  
To Be Continued... 


	5. All Shuttles

Standard disclaimer applied.  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
"Come on, you're too slow, Wufei." Sally looked back, sliding her shades down her nose slightly, looking at a poor Wufei, grumbling and cursing under his breath with a huge bag.  
  
"What the hell did you put in this trunk, woman?!" he asked, a vein can be clearly seen at the side of his head.  
  
"Nothing." Sally turned, adjusting her shades. Wufei threw a tantrum while she just shrugged and walked off. She caught up with Catherine and Trowa. She was whispering something to him and he smiled and hugged her as they walked down the shuttle port's terminal to board the shuttle bound for L2. Sally smiled and looked back behind her and suddenly frowned.  
  
"What?" Wufei asked, huffing and puffing. She turned around and continued walking.  
  
"Nothing." Wufei gazed at her back and felt himself guilty. With all the strength he could gather, hoisted the bag on his shoulder and walked alongside Sally. She looked surprised but thanks to the shades, it was hidden.  
  
"There's always something when you say that. What's wrong?" he asked, knowing it will mean a big, hot quarrel if he doesn't soothe her now. She didn't say anything.  
  
"Later." She said and walked off, Wufei felt a bigger pang of guilt as Sally walked off. Just then, he felt his shoulder hurt with an extra weight and fell flat on his back. When he looked up, he saw a laughing Duo.  
  
"Maxwell..." he hissed. Duo bent down, hands on his knees.  
  
"Sorry, Wu-man. Just resting my arm for a bit. Didn't realize you weren't that strong." He snickered and took the bag off Wufei's shoulder. "Phew... I wonder what Hilde packed in this bag." He said, adjusting his shades.  
  
"Women..." he muttered, getting up to his feet. Just then, someone trampled over him. He fell flat on his face this time. It was Quatre. Dorothy was nowhere in sight. Duo looked at the Arabian man who walked on Wufei's back without any thoughts. He was in his own happy, little world again, lost in his train of thoughts. "What IS it with you PEOPLE?!" Wufei threw another tantrum and unsheathed his katana to chase a running Duo with a lost-in- thought Quatre around the terminal, making a havoc.  
  
Hilde, Dorothy and Sally were talking among themselves when they saw the boys (in smokes) running past them.  
  
"Duo!"  
  
"Quatre!"  
  
"Wufei!" Each woman called their man at the same time. But, they disappeared in a cloud of dust. "Men..." They all grumbled.  
  
"Looks like they're at it again..." Catherine said, smiling at the 3 women. The other 3 looked at her, walking hand in hand with Trowa. They suddenly had an evil look on their faces and Trowa gulped inwardly.  
  
In the shuttle, they took their seats and Trowa was panting as if he ran a 24 hours marathon around 5 colonies. He was so exhausted, having to carry 4 big, bulky bags with a straight face that he can feel muscle cramps all over his body - even his facial muscles. He opened an eye. "You all are going to pay for that." He muttered.  
  
Duo turned to look at his fellow comrade. "Sorry, Trowa. If it wasn't for Wu-man here, you won't have to do that." Duo gave Wufei a dirty look.  
  
"Are you putting the blame on me, Maxwell?"  
  
"Duh, it was your fault, chasing us with that sword." Duo rolled his eyes and lazily put his hand under his chin.  
  
"It was simply because you people were testing my temper." A vein popped from Wufei's temple.  
  
"Well, blame it on Quatre then, not me." Duo said, pointing at Quatre who was behind Trowa.  
  
"Hey, I told you already, I was busy thinking about my company. How long have you guys known me to not know that?" Quatre said, defending himself.  
  
"A tad too long, I'm sure." Duo replied.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean, Duo?" Quatre asked, feeling anger crawling to his neck. And so, they continued their little mouth-war. Their partners (who were sitting in pairs with them) were too tired to even bother stopping them. As long as they don't have their guns and Wufei his katana, they'll reach their destination - alive.  
  
Trowa sighed. This was going to be a looong flight. "If Heero was here, he'd stick a gun out of nowhere and won't bother saying his infamous 'Omae O Korosu" and just shoot you guys straight out." He piped in.  
  
All the 3 men looked at him at the sound of Heero's name and quietly settled down. 'Damn, I'm good..." Trowa thought and gave himself a good mental pat on the back. Catherine looked out of the window. Space was dark and cold. It scares her sometimes. She turned to Trowa, he was asleep already but she knew if she made any movement, he'll wake up. So, she decided to just lay back and relax. From behind, he can hear some murmurings. 'Must be Quatre and Dorothy at 'it' again...' she thought, smiled and eavesdropped.  
  
Dorothy was looking at Quatre who was reading a book. "Is that what Heero got you?" she asked. He turned to her with a smile.  
  
"Yeah." He closed the book titled '1001 ways to relieve stress'. "It's a good book." He gazed at the ear rings she was wearing. "Nice ear rings. Fits your features perfectly."  
  
She touched the ear rings. "The stone's called Amber." She told him. Quatre raised his eyebrows, smiling in amazement. "Also a present." She added.  
  
Quatre smiled then looked out of the window and sighed. "I sure hope he's all right. And I sure hope the little girl is doing well. What was her name again?"  
  
"Hera." Dorothy replied, smiling. "A sweet but quiet little girl. I wonder where Heero found her." She wondered.  
  
"Hera and Heero. I'll bet it was him who gave her that name."  
  
Dorothy then snaked her arms around Quatre's, laid her head on his chest and playfully ran her fingers on the buttons on his chest. "Yes." She replied. "But, what are we going to name ours?" she asked, looking up at him, in a low raspy voice.  
  
Quatre looked at her, surprised. They weren't even married yet! And she's already planning on ahead. "Now, now, dear, let's not..." he suddenly drew in a sharp breath when Dorothy playfully placed her hands LOWER. Quatre pulled his collar with his index finger as he felt the heat rising hotter than the desert. "Dorothy..." he managed to gasp out.  
  
"Yes, my prince?" she whispered in his ears, playfully running her lips from behind his ears to his sideburns, her hand still fixed at where it was 20 seconds ago. He caught her hand, both hands in fact and faced her.  
  
"Not now. The others might be listening." He whispered very, very lowly.  
  
'You can say that again.' Catherine thought, smiling mischievously. Then, all Catherine heard was soft kissing sounds. 'Oh, how romantic...' Catherine thought. Suddenly, she heard some whispering from the front.  
  
"Can you tell me now?"  
  
'That's Wufei.' Catherine thought and again, eavesdropped. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Duo, tape recording while Hilde was sleeping. She waved at him and he waved back. Careful not to be seen by Wufei.  
  
"Are they all asleep?" they suddenly heard Sally's voice. Wufei's head popped up from his seat and saw Catherine, Trowa, Duo and Hilde fast asleep, save the last 2 at the back.  
  
"All of them except for Quatre and Dorothy. They have some 'business' to do." He replied. Catherine opened her eyes and glanced at Duo. He was having trouble with the camcorder and Hilde was stirring around. Then, Sally sighed and walked past them. Catherine and Duo pretended to fall asleep. Right after she past them, Wufei chased after her.  
  
"Sally, wait." He said but Sally didn't seem to hear him and continued walking to the back of the shuttle where the comfort room was. Right after that, they heard a loud bang and a lock clicked. A knock came after that. "Sally. Open up."  
  
Duo slowly turned the camcorder to himself. "Well, guys, I don't know how Wufei's gonna' handle that but stay tuned." He said quietly, almost in a whisper. Then, he clicked the 'stop' button and turned to Catherine. "Can't sleep, huh?" She shook her head.  
  
"That's a nice toy you got there. Let me guess, a present, right?" Duo smiled and nodded.  
  
"My best bud gave it to me." he said, looking at the camera and then sighed. "Man, how can he be so paranoid? I mean, it's fine to be careful for anymore war break-outs but, saying the culprit's Z-man is a bit too much. He's as good a friend Heero is." Catherine smiled at him.  
  
"You guys are getting along pretty well with Mr. Wargon, aren't you?" she asked.  
  
"Well, I didn't actually like him at first cause he was stealing Relena from Heero. And I know just how badly Heero'll take it..." he looked down at the camcorder. "But, I soon found out the pain that Relena's going through and at one time, I almost thought she was playing around with Heero's feelings and almost hated her for that. But then again, looking at it from her point of view, she has every reason to do that..." He looked at Catherine who was playing with Trowa's hair. He stirred a bit but was still asleep. "Life must go on and to do that, one must move on." He added, looking out into space.  
  
Catherine felt sorry for Heero, especially now that everybody - including herself, thinks he's simply paranoid and to Une, well, almost crazy. She stood up and walked to the back of the shuttle for the comfort room. Wufei was nowhere in sight, neither was Sally. 'That's funny, I didn't know they went to their seats already...'  
  
From inside, she can hear murmurings. "Okay..." Catherine said to herself quietly and returned to her seat. Duo was asleep now and so were Quatre and Dorothy. She thought she should get some sleep herself. She yawned a little and settled down.  
  
In another shuttle, Relena and Zeimer were accompanied by Zechs and Noin. Zeimer and Zechs were discussing on the agenda in L2 but Relena wasn't so interested to hear them. A journey through space is long - save boring. How she wished the others were with her as well. She took out the ring from her pocket. It was a platinum ring with a diamond holding it. She noticed that all the others had similar expensive gifts from Heero but as to where he got the money, she had no idea. She sighed. She didn't know what to do with it.  
  
"Thinking about someone?" Noin suddenly came to her side.  
  
"Lucy..." She sighed. "I don't know what to do anymore." She looked at the ring she fiddled with her finger.  
  
"That's beautiful. Aren't you wearing it?" she asked.  
  
Relena looked at Noin. "... If I wear it, it'll only mean I'm still living in the past. I have to move on." She put the ring back in her pocket.  
  
Noin nodded her head knowingly. "But, uh... Does that mean you still have to keep it?" she teased. Relena said nothing. Noin sighed. Relena has been a hotter head ever since she started dating Zeimer. She looked over her shoulder to where the 2 men sat, looking at a computer.  
  
Suddenly, the vidcom popped up and Une's face was in it. "Fire and Wind, is it secured?"  
  
"Go ahead." Zechs replied.  
  
"Lady Une," Zeimer smiled at her. "You guys go ahead, I'll be right back." Zechs nodded and turned to Lady Une.  
  
"Could you get connected to army's monitoring system? It seems that a disturbance has occurred worldwide and..." Suddenly, her face disappeared in a static. Zechs tried to access into the army's monitoring system but the monitor only displayed, 'Virus' Block.' "The hell...?"  
  
Elsewhere, somewhere, a man sat in a dark room. Suddenly, his phone rang, "How is everything?"  
  
"... You do what you must do and we'll do ours."  
  
"Hey, I thought you said you'll take care of that son of a bitch. Why is he still around, huh? And how's that thingamajig doing?"  
  
"That son of a bitch will be the key to your 'sweet little goal' and as I said, do what you must do and we'll do ours." The line was then cut off. "Hm?" suddenly, the man's computer became a static. And the monitor displayed : 'Virus' Block'. The man raised his eyebrows. "Ooh... I Love Puzzles." He clicked his knuckles and started typing a program. "Program, execute." He smiled and waited. Slowly, the words melted and the army's monitoring system was back. "In a flash." The man said triumphantly and chuckled to himself.  
  
Suddenly, one of his computers beeped. "What's that...?" he was looking at a monitor which displayed space. He zoomed in and then smiled at his discovery. He rubbed his chin. "Clever... well, I guess I should take my leave as well." He stood up and went to the door. A man stood there, leaning against the door frame.  
  
"So, you're busted." The man chuckled.  
  
"Not yet." Replied the other man who was clad in black and has a tougher looking built compared to the first. "If I can catch it in time."  
  
"Good luck. You'll need it."  
  
"Same to you, old man." The older man smirked.  
  
"Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself." The younger man walked off. 'Can't believe I get to see him again... after all these years.' The older man thought to himself before disappearing in a shuttle.  
  
  
  
To Be Continued... 


	6. Unpleasent Nostalgic Reunion

Standard disclaimers applied and man... all this crappy disclaimer stuff is so stiff... Hey, it's good to find someone actually READING this thing... well, I'd say the story for GW fics are more or less the same : Danger - bad guys trying to destroy/kill/cause confusion to the world, death, etc, etc... But, I assure you, minna! Zis ficz iz mine~! *___*  
  
Ok, I'll get back to the fic...  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
It was 2am and the shuttle which was going to bring Relena (and the rest of the crew) will arrive soon, maybe in another 8 hours.  
  
Heero stared down below from a tall building, right across the location where Relena and Zeimer were supposed to launch the foundational ceremony and was monitoring any places where assassins may hide - none so far.  
  
Suddenly, his earpiece cracked to life, "It's secured." He said, "Where are you now?"  
  
"I'm going to make a 'jump' through space to reach the destination. I will not be able to make contact in 25 hours." Hera replied, at the same time typing a lot of stuff into her Gundam. "I have also blocked all detecting devices around the world so they won't be able to detect me."  
  
"Good," Heero said, looking through a pair of binoculars and saw an interesting disguise which he thought perfect for his job. Then, looked at his watch and did a little mathematical calculation, "3am tomorrow. Good luck."  
  
"Over and out," Hera's voice came and static.  
  
*****************************************  
  
Duo gripped onto his seat and squeezed his eyes shut - he HATED shuttle landings! He shut his eyes and waited for the impact. Then, as expected, it came: a tremor shook all around them and then a sudden halt which caused Duo to momentarily thought he just lost his head somewhere at the front rows.  
  
Ting.  
  
The heavenly green lights which shows 'you can take off the seatbelt, now' lighted and Duo sighed in relief. "Finally..." he said.  
  
Hilde knew he hated those landing parts and smiled teasingly, "Well, it's all over... for now." She smiled sweetly and added, "If I recall correctly, we still have another trip back, right?"  
  
Duo let out a long, frustrated groan and melted in his seat, "You go ahead...I think I'll just stay here in L3 and grab an Arabian chick here and live happily ever af... Ouch!" He yelped when Hilde gave him a dirty look and her infamous 'pinch'.  
  
From behind them, came the usual buzzing tone of the Arabian businessman. "Yes, we just arrive... uh-huh... gate... 11... Yeah, . Yes, I'm fine... Dorothy's fine too. Ok, I'll meet you guys later, bye. Fuh..." Quatre said as he switched off his phone. "It's a miracle I even got outta there. The guys are real tough to shake off."  
  
"Out of the way, Trowa!" A familiar Chinese grunt. "Where are all the stewards when you need them?!" he asked nobody in particular.  
  
"Uh... Wu-man, just so you know; we're the ONLY passengers in this shuttle save the pilot." Duo smiled chibily at the fuming Chinese who hates him more than anything in the world (yes, even more than Treize).  
  
Sensing a fight ensuing, Quatre took the opportunity to walk in between them, "Save it you guys, we have other business to attend to."  
  
They slowly (and heavingly) walked out of the shuttle. Trowa walked way ahead of them with Catherine as he had the fewest luggage to carry, followed by Quatre and the Maguanacs (and of course, Dorothy) and finally Duo and Wufei.  
  
Duo was panting from exhaustion - Wufei was too but tried hard to hide it. "Hilde..." Duo called, out-of-breathly.  
  
"Yeah?" Hilde turned and saw Duo sitting with his back against the wall as crowds of people flooded through.  
  
"A drink... pleasssseee...? Pretty please with vanilla-strawberry on top...?" he pleaded. Wufei was panting next to him and looked up to find Sally nowhere in sight.  
  
Hilde was inclined to say no but shrugged, said ok and went. Duo looked around the crowd and saw a beautifully designed fountain. "Hey Wu-man, wanna see the fountain over there? Looks pretty." He nudged at Wufei who smacked his hand away.  
  
"Fine, go ahead and be sober for it's the least o' my worries!" he stuck his tongue out and went. Miraculously, Wufei didn't say anything nasty back to him - too tired to talk.  
  
He stood next to the fountain, took out his video cam and recorded it. As he was recording, he thought he saw someone.  
  
Instinctively, he raced to the person, who was walking away. "Heero!" He grabbed the man by the shoulder and turned him. "Oh... sorry..." he smiled sheepishly as the man was NOT Heero. Hilde came tapping his shoulder a second later with his drink.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
Hilde looked at the man who disappeared, "He DOES look like Heero from the back, doesn't he?" Duo nodded sadly as he gulped down the refreshing liquid and suddenly felt angry at Heero.  
  
"That idiot..." he cursed softly as he walked to their luggage, hoisted it on his shoulder and walked off. Hilde followed him. Wufei was already with the others, asking what was going on, etc. They decided to go to the hotel first as Relena's shuttle will not arrive until an hour or so.  
  
As they zoomed off in a limo, the real Heero Yuy was looking at it vanishing from view from a balcony on the second floor of the Shuttle Port. He smiled slightly - he saw everything and realized he was expected to show up, somehow.  
  
**************************************  
  
Meanwhile, in space, Hera was (as usual) typing away and discovered that her virus has been demolished - but by who? She gritted her teeth and knitted her eyebrows.  
  
"I have a bad feeling 'bout this..." she narrowed her eyes and suddenly launched a satellite of her own to the destination and stopped her jump. Done that, she made to contact her father.  
  
*************************************  
  
Heero was having coffee when Relena's shuttle arrived 3 hours later. He looked at his watch: 1300. Their flight must have been delayed. Heero's heart did a slight flip-flop when he saw Relena walking out of the shuttle after Zechs and Noin. He was amazed at her ability of never failing to impress him with her beauty.  
  
Suddenly, he turned grim as a hand snaked around her waist from behind and she turned, smiling to the man: Zeimer Wargon.  
  
"Zeimer, you ought to control yourself when we're in public, you know." She looked at him, hands holding her hair which was flying all around her. Zeimer stared at her intently and held her face.  
  
"You're beautiful. Like an angel." He commented huskily, earning an even beautiful blush from the former queen and former ambassador. Finding her so irresistible, he bent down to kiss her but was stopped by Zechs.  
  
"The media is everywhere, be careful so you guys don't get caught." Zechs smiled.  
  
Zeimer blushed momentarily, "I guess you're right."  
  
"You two go ahead and meet the gang at the hotel. Miliardo and I need to do something." Noin piped in, holding Zechs by the arm and taking him by surprise.  
  
Relena smiled and winked, "Choose wisely, Lucy! Bye, big brother!" she waved at the two and vanished together with Zeimer into the VIP tunnel. Heero rose from his seat, careful not to be spotted by Zechs and Noin.  
  
Suddenly, a tall man whose face was covered with a big hat, wearing a long trenchcoat with a cat-like elegance in movement and spelled danger to Heero entered the tunnel right after the 2 left. Like the man, Heero snaked through the crowd to the VIP tunnel area and took a peek.  
  
At the far end, he can see and hear Relena and Zeimer but not the man. He seemed to have vanished somehow. Knitting his eyebrows, Heero released his gun's lock and heard an elevator chime at the opposite end. He peeked again. No one. Heero made to move when his earpiece cracked to life.  
  
'... That's early...' Heero looked at his watch and it only read 1330. "What happened?"  
  
"I have a bad feeling about this, father..."  
  
"What's your status?"  
  
Suddenly, he heard a loud beep from the other side and then a panicked silence.  
  
'Fuck...' Heero thought. "Hera! What's going on there?!" Suddenly, he felt danger coming and lunged to the exit only to have evaded some machine gun bullets.  
  
"So you still remember my lessons, huh?" Heero's eyes snapped open as he recognized the voice.  
  
Heero slowly stood up from his hiding place with his gun leveled to the man's heart. "Odin Lowe..." Heero glowered at him. His earpiece cracked to life.  
  
"Pierre Wallace... you're..." Hera's voice sounded scared to him and it's not good. She may be the 2nd perfect soldier but the trouble is there's a '2nd' in her title; A.K.A, she's NOT perfect - yet.  
  
"Alive?" said both men from both ends. "You don't think I'd die just like that, do you?" they both said simultaneously and if Heero didn't know better, he would've thought they were the same person.  
  
Heero on earth and Hera in space narrowed their eyes and simultaneously said, "Over and out," and a fight ensued at both ends.  
  
*************************  
  
"Hey pretty, what's a girl like you doing way out here by yourself?"  
  
Pierre's sole reply was a raging thrust to the torso which he evaded in a not-so-easy state. Then, a REAL answer came, "My name is Hera Yuy," she said and whirled to give a hard strike to Pierre's mobile suit which he blocked with his shield. They came to a lock.  
  
Pierre smiled menacingly, "Don't forget, I taught you everything you know."  
  
Hera kept silent for a moment before replying, "Think again," she released herself from the lock and took out her saber. "I will collect all the necessary evidence there is to prove that you people are constructing these mobile suits."  
  
"Ah... sadly, you're too late," Pierre informed her.  
  
"In what way?"  
  
"For one thing, the mobile suits are all ready."  
  
"That can't be. You couldn't have manufactured that much in 4 years," She spat.  
  
"True, but we don't use them for brute." Hera raised her eyebrows. "We use them for scaring people only but the real deal is...  
  
**************************  
  
On earth, both men were still aiming their guns at each other, waiting for the right 'time'.  
  
"How?" Heero suddenly asked and Odin raised an eyebrow while smiling a mysteriously.  
  
"You don't wanna know."  
  
"Try me."  
  
"I survived the explosion... because..." he said slowly and Heero suddenly tensed and tightened his grip on his gun, "I'm Odin Lowe," Odin then shot at Heero who, by instinct motion, shot at Odin. Compared to Odin's weapon, Heero didn't stand a chance!  
  
Suddenly, he drew in a sharp, painful breath as a bullet hit home on his left shoulder but continued to shoot and ducked behind a pillar. He thought of going outside but casualties will then be involved but on the other hand, if he stayed...  
  
*****************************  
  
Meanwhile, at the hotel, Relena just finished changing and went to meet up with her friends who were waiting. "How do I look?" she made a complete 360 degree turn.  
  
"Perfecto." Duo said, holding up 3 fingers up.  
  
"Wonderful, absolutely beautiful." Zeimer piped in.  
  
Catherine nudged at Zeimer, "You were with her when she bought this."  
  
"Well, it looks a lot better on Relena then on the mannequin." Zeimer shrugged and everyone laughed - save Wufei and Trowa.  
  
"We should get going now." Trowa said.  
  
Suddenly, Duo bounced up and down, holding a camera, "Hey guys! Can we take a picture first? Please, please, pleeeeeaaaaaseeeeee...?!!!"  
  
Everyone sighed.  
  
***************************  
  
"AAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Hera screamed as intense electricity surged through her and her Gundam.  
  
"Let me just fill you in on my friend here, his name is Talxion." At the sound of the name, Hera's eyes widened. "As you have heard from its name, it is a combination of both Tallgeese and Epyon. The only difference is the attribute." Hera grunted in pain as she tried every means possible to escape the electrocuting shock. "It's electric now, better than fire. But the problem is you won't live long enough to tell anyone about him." Pierre smiled evilly as he increased the voltage.  
  
Suddenly, Zero started beeping its alarm and moments later, its main monitor exploded, its million pieces grazed her skin and face. Like that wasn't enough, she tried typing the ZERO system but it malfunctioned.  
  
'N... No...'  
  
"What's that Pretty?" Pierre asked mockingly. Hera quickly typed a command and prayed it will still work. A few seconds of more electrocuting felt like an eternity when a relieving beep replied, command accepted.  
  
Suddenly, Zero glowed. Sensing danger, Pierre released Zero and throttled as far away from her as possible when a huge energy wave suddenly built up and vanished in an instant, causing a huge explosion. The explosion caught the Talxion by the tail (which electrocuted Zero).  
  
Pierre cursed at Hera's sudden escape and pondered for a moment. "She escaped through jump. I guess she's on her way back to earth. How are you doing there?"  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Please read and Review!!!!  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


	7. The Fall Of The Perfect Soldier

Ok, as usual, I don't own anything.  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Waiting is the most vital part of a combat such as this...  
  
"No one likes you anymore these days, son. 'Proof is everybody's been assigning me to kill ya', well, not that anybody enjoys having a killer on the loose."  
  
"Everybody as in Zeimer Wargon?" Heero asked.  
  
Odin whistled. "Now I REALLY gotta' kill ya'. You're not supposed to know that. He's been dreaming of your death so he can settle on the cute queen." Heero perked up. "So, he decided to make you a conspirator and leave his hands clean. Real good brain he got."  
  
'Yeah, a bubble-brain.' Heero thought.  
  
"Say, how many did I catch you?" Odin asked.  
  
"Just 1." Heero replied, "You?"  
  
"Yep, you got 1. But I have it on a bullet proof jacket." Odin paused before asking, "And you?"  
  
Heero looked down at his wound. It WAS caught by the jacket but the machine gun was so strong that it penetrated through. He gritted his teeth as beads of sweat started dripping down while he tried to level his breathing.  
  
"I thought so." Odin laughed. "That Pierre Wallace is some kid. He improved this machine gun, ya' know." Heero bit his lower lip as he felt a stinging pain spread slowly and agonizingly. "It's deadly... VENOMOUS" Odin stressed the last word. "He's never tried it before and you're the first test subject. How does it feel?" he smiled sinisterly.  
  
Seeing how bad the situation was to him, Heero decided that if he ever intended to see another day, he'll have to deal with this guy some other time.  
  
Suddenly, Heero zoomed out of his hiding place and opened fire to Odin, catching a few more bullets by the arms, leg and chest. Just then, he took out a knife from his back and made a bee line for Odin's forehead when his vision blurred and only managed to strike him deep into Odin's chest. Odin fell back, grunting in pain. When he looked up, Heero was nowhere in sight.  
  
Just then, his earpiece cracked to life and Pierre's voice came. "The brat escaped too..." he gasped. "But, he left me bad here..."  
  
"I can't believe this!" Noin complained. "How could you FORGET your wallet in the SHUTTLE!?!?!"  
  
Zechs didn't say anything but sighed and went out. Noin pouted at the passenger seat. 'He's ALWAYS like that...' From the rear mirror, she noticed a small pimple on her forehead and tried pinching it when she saw a peculiar figure run out of the building through a far end entrance/exit which she knows very well as the VIP area. The said figure limped away out of sight.  
  
It hurts.  
  
Heero tried to look for cover, anywhere is fine. But, his vision was getting blurry, breathing ragged, his whole body in pain – and not JUST bullet wounds' pain. It seemed as though some sort of poison was put in it and now, it's spreading. However, with him walking/limping around like that, it's not helping to slow it down.  
  
'Have gotta... stay focused...' he thought but suddenly stopped as he sensed someone following him. He narrowed his eyes. Could it be Odin?  
  
Noin knitted her eyebrow and took out her gun. Somehow, that part of the port was deserted. If this was a plan to ambush her, they succeeded. She looked around the straight corridor – no one. She could've sworn the man walked that way...  
  
Suddenly, something dripped to the floor. Slowly, she looked up and saw a hand's silhouette on the vent.  
  
Then, she grabbed a nearby pole and poked the cover open. It fell with a crash and a hand limped on top of her with blood dripping slowly. She jumped and grabbed the hand, pulling it and its owner down. She managed to catch the person from hitting the ground head first but was shocked to death to see who the person was and the condition he was in.  
  
She covered her mouth in bewilderment, "Heero..." she checked for a pulse but could barely feel anything. "No... oh no... Heero... Heero!" Noin shook him hoping he'll wake up to ensure he was alive.  
  
He opened his eyes slowly and through his blurred vision, could see Noin's concerned face. It hurts Noin deeply to see the younger boy so fragile and helpless like that.  
  
"N... Noin..." he managed to gasp and then grunted in pain as the venomous pain jolted throughout his body. "Ugh......"  
  
"Hang on, I'll help you..." Noin slinged one of Heero's arm at the back of her neck, holding onto it from the other side and staggered to her feet as his weight was dead total on her.  
  
She turned around but was met with a man whom she never thought she'd see.  
  
"Miliardo..." He had a gun pointed to Heero. As weak as he felt, Heero could still glare at his white haired former (and forever will be) enemy. "Please..." she pleaded, shaking her head.  
  
"Give me 1 very good reason why I shouldn't kill you, Yuy," Zechs looked hard at him.  
  
Heero was having trouble getting the air in and out of his lungs much less talk; and right now, he can't see anything but shadows. He was about to say something when a dizzy sensation took him over and something making its way through from his gut and up to his throat. He spat the sudden gush of blood out and felt it.  
  
"Heero!" Noin cried out in alarm as Heero screamed in pain. He tried to breath but failed. Suddenly, an eerie blackness swallowed him up. Then, he went limp; his screams stopped altogether - and so did his breathing.  
  
Elsewhere, Hera floated in space in her Gundam. She lost consciousness right after she performed the jump and was covered with oozing red liquid which were drying up.  
  
She heard something from far away...  
  
"Here's something for the cutsie..." a young Hera took the gift and looked up only to see a faceless man looking down on her. Scared, she looked to her side and saw a faceless long-haired woman looking at her.  
  
Suddenly, both people screamed and her surrounding reddened and the 2 'parents' laid before her in a heap. Someone walked towards her.  
  
"My, aren't you pretty..." she recognized the voice and saw Pierre, faceless. Staring at the faceless face, she looked away and felt floated in blackness again until a light shone to her face. She opened her eyes and looked at the dim light from a faraway place.  
  
The next time an image was formed, a bright light shone first. She covered her eyes and looked up. "You did well," Heero said. She stared on and suddenly felt warm. Tears run down her cheeks freely and Heero's hand reached for her, wiping the tears away. She smiled.  
  
"Father..."  
  
Suddenly, Heero fell back. She stood up from the simulator she was in and looked down. Heero was lying on the floor, unconscious, bloodied and full of bullet wounds. His face stayed pale and stiff with his eyes opened slightly and blood covering his face and flowing out from the corner of his mouth.  
  
Hera trembled. This is all a dream, she thought but, it's scary, she wanted to reach for Heero but something held her tied to the ground. Exasperated, all she could do was...  
  
"FATTHHHERR!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Hera woke up with a start and realized she was not in the pilot seat but was floating over it. She felt tears in her eyes and wiped it away. Zero was not functioning but it was a good thing that the oxygen supply didn't.  
  
She floated down the cockpit, "Zero, are you still with me?" she asked. No response. She smiled sadly. "So even you desert me now..." she leaned against the seat and checked her oxygen tank. It could only hold on for 20 more minutes. There must've been a leak.  
  
Suddenly, she heard metals clank. She opened her eyes and looked out. To her surprise, she saw a huge ship which grabbed her gundam and brought them to a colony.  
  
"L2..." Hera whispered. "Father should be here..."  
  
"Ok, Zeimer, are you ready?" Relena turned to see the ambassador to be shuffling in his seat, "What is it THIS time?" Relena asked, hand on her hip.  
  
He looked up from the floor, "This is a big stepping stone for me..." he muttered.  
  
"Don't worry, we'll be with you all the way," and paused, "I will be with you..."  
  
Suddenly, Duo busted in through the door, "Wooh... it's really pouring out there!"  
  
"Can't we control the artificial rain?" Dorothy asked.  
  
"Nah, as artificial as it may be, it's still weather..." Duo shrugged, "So, you guys ready? Tro-tro'll..."  
  
"Watch your mouth Duo," Trowa growled from behind, suddenly appearing.  
  
Duo jumped as Relena and Zeimer giggled, "Wow... sorry man, didn't see ya' there," he laughed nervously.  
  
"And another thing Duo, if you EVER call me that again, make no mistake that my actions will be far more severe compared to Wufei's," he continued, walking towards Duo threateningly.  
  
He gulped, "I get the point, Trowa... by the way, haven't seen Wu-man anywhere..." Duo looked around.  
  
"Neither did I see Quatre..." Dorothy piped.  
  
"Oh, he told me to tell you that he had to attend to something, business calls," Catherine said, entering the backstage. "Ok, you 2, everyone's waiting for you out there. Good luck and have fun," She winked.  
  
"Thanks," the 2 said. Suddenly, Relena tripped and fell to her knees.  
  
"Are you all right?!" Zeimer asked.  
  
"I'm ok, just... my shoe... its heel broke," she sighed. "You guys go ahead, I'll join you in a second," she said and disappeared into the dressing room. She grumbled to herself, "How could I..."  
  
"What? How is he?" said a voice from the other side of the dressing room. Relena hid, 'That sounds like Wufei...' she thought.  
  
"Is he...?" Relena could hear Wufei's voice croak and inwardly felt her heart clench for no reason. Then, he asked, "Where are you now?... I'll be there... Don't worry... they're outside, I'm alone here..." then he hung up. Relena peeped from her hiding place and saw Wufei standing in front of the dressing table.  
  
Suddenly, he overturned the dressing table (along with the mirror), bringing everything crashing down to the ground. "That idiot..." then, footsteps were heard and Duo and Trowa entered the room, with their guns pointed towards Wufei.  
  
They sighed, "Wufei... what's going on here?" Trowa asked.  
  
"We thought Relena's in trouble, ya know..." Duo said. "By the way, where IS Relena?" He asked.  
  
"I'm here..." Relena slowly stood up, surprising Wufei.  
  
"You heard...?" he asked and she nodded.  
  
"Who was that?" Relena asked. "And were you..." she narrowed her eyes.  
  
Wufei looked at her sadly. She was surprised how sad the usually mean, hard, dark eyes before her were. "I'll explain in the car..." he said, walking past the trio.  
  
"Exactly, where are we going?" Duo asked. Trowa thought better of it and decided to just listen to explanations later. He followed Wufei without question, causing both Duo and Relena to automatically follow his lead. Deep down in her heart, Relena was positive that something has happened to Heero but why was she worrying?  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Please read and review  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


	8. PBV Poison, Bacteria And Virus

This is an angst episode, minna. I hope it's good as this is my first time writing an angst episode.  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Noin paced outside the operating theatre. Somehow, she managed to handle things though it all happened so quickly and suddenly. She was still confused. She heard footsteps approaching, it was Zechs. She stood, with tears in her eyes and cried on his chest.  
  
Zechs could do nothing but just comfort her. Then, Zechs whispered, "Zero was found by the Maguanacs floating a few kilometers away from L2," Noin suddenly stopped and looked into his eyes.  
  
"Zero...? Wing Zero? The gundam?"  
  
Zechs smiled and brought her to the bench and sat her down, "Yes, a gundam, the Zero. Not Wing. Its pilot is still in there," he tilted his head into the operating theatre. Noin then narrowed her eyes and pondered for a moment.  
  
"Then... who...?" she asked.  
  
As she finished her sentence, Quatre emerged from the elevator with the asian girl whom Noin saw in the New Year's party, "Hera?" she stared in disbelief. Not only the thought of the 7 year old girl piloting Zero was scary enough but looking at her current state was just as bad as looking at Heero bloodied half an hour ago. Noin walked to her and bent down.  
  
"Are you all right?" Noin asked. Hera stared at her, hard. Finally, she closed her eyes and said,  
  
"Where's father? Mr. Winner said he's here." Her emotionless stare could have parred Heero and Trowa's. Noin swallowed a big lump in her throat.  
  
"He's in there," Zechs replied.  
  
She walked past Noin and Zechs towards the operating room. Before anyone could say anything, she opened the door and entered. The 3 adults outside rushed in to pull her out but she locked the door from the inside.  
  
In the operating room, stood an astonished Sally. She recognized the girl.  
  
"Hera?"  
  
Hera nodded and approached the white, bloodied bed and looked at the man on it.  
  
Outside, Quatre, Zechs and Noin thought of kicking the door open but decided to ditch the idea. So, they sat, waiting, praying.  
  
A few minutes later, the elevator opened and Trowa, Duo, Wufei and (to both Noin and Zechs' dismay) Relena appeared.  
  
"Relena!" Both (stunned people) said.  
  
"Lucy... is he all right?" Relena asked.  
  
Zechs glared daggers at Wufei, "I said the Gundam pilots. Is she one?"  
  
Wufei hung his head. Trowa turned to Quatre, "What's his status?" Quatre shook his head.  
  
"Not good. Sally said he's been injured by multiple bullet-wounds inserted with a lethal dose of Cyanide. To make things worse, it seemed that he moved around too much subsequent to the shots, causing the cyanide to circulate around his body faster than it should be and it particularly damaged his lungs," he paused, gulping, "His chance of surviving is very slim... and... even if he made it... he'll be... b... bodily pa... paralyzed..." as he finished his last sentence, he was quivering.  
  
Relena's eyes welled with uncontainable tears as she heard this, leaning against the wall for support. "How can this be happening?" she asked in an undertone, unheard to the others but a small whimper of sorrow.  
  
Everyone there was thinking of the same thing. This shouldn't have happened anymore. It didn't have to. Everything's peaceful now. No more wars. No more evil plot anywhere. They've killed all crazy people there was. So, why does Heero suffer like that? Was he going crazy and paranoid or... were they mistaken in misunderstanding him?  
  
"Can't be..." Duo was heard saying, shuddering, "This is all a joke..." he tried laughing and looked up at everyone who pretended to not hear him.  
  
"It's a joke right?" His voice cracked. Nobody said anything.  
  
"THIS IS ALL A SICK, FUCKIN' JOKE, RIGHT??!!" He boomed, "Whoever's in there could not and I mean NOT be my best pal! NEVER! He's too tough for this!" Duo practically screamed with tears; unexpectedly to him; streaming down his cheeks.  
  
Trowa, Wufei and Quatre looked away, hiding their faces in a hope they won't break down as Duo did. Duo's sudden outburst only caused the 2 women to cry harder. Zechs said nothing.  
  
When no response came to him, Duo, like Relena, leaned against a wall opposite to her, "It's not fair..." he said, as he slid down the wall. He hung his head, sobbing, "It's just not fair!" Duo bawled and looked up, "He was supposed to live happily ever after as a normal human being just as he always dreamt of becoming! He'd settle down, marry Relena, have kids, get a decent job, celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving, Holloween, New Year, everything, together. In other words, just be human! Not a freakin' killing machine or a 'peacekeeper' who dies just like that..." his voice trailed away, "Just... Fuck... Fuck it all to hell..."  
  
Silence hung in the air as nobody wished to say anything or even if they did, simply can't.  
  
So, that was it? No matter if he made it or not, he's as good as gone already. Wufei sighed sadly as he reminisced the time when he and Heero crossed swords 3 years ago. He turned to the operating theatre where his lady love is, working as hard as she could to bring their dear comrade and friend back to them – knowing it'd make no difference.  
  
Wufei suddenly; more like an impulse; instinctively walked towards the operating theatre. As he pondered to try the door, it flung open and before him, stood a red eyed Sally. She has been crying and Wufei knew what the outcome was. She cried into his arms. He comforted her with the warmth he has and hoped, in exchange, to receive the comforting warmth from her for him. The others, expecting this, stayed still, confused and unable to move.  
  
Relena felt guilty over everything hence was the first to stand and approached the theatre. All she wanted was to see him, in a hope he will spring back to life like he always do. Hoping he would forgive her. Hoping he'd know how much he meant to her. Hoping he'd live to return her love for him...  
  
She entered the theatre and saw Hera next to the bed where the frozen body of Heero laid. She approached her and touched the young girl's shoulders. Hera was giving her back to Relena, holding Heero's hand.  
  
"Hera?" Relena called. No response came and Relena turned her just to see the usually emotionless face twisted in unimaginable pain.  
  
"Father..." she cried, turning to her foster father, "It was only a dream, Ms. Relena..." she told her, shaking her head. "He held me and then..." she covered her face with her hands as she sobbed harder. Relena, who's heart felt like shattering and was feeling guiltier by the minute, only brought Hera in a hug.  
  
Behind her, stood the 4 former gundam pilots. They looked at their comrade's lifeless body heartrendingly. They have always been prepared for this sort of thing happening but not now. They wanted to turn away and leave but, they'd feel guilty to not bid him goodbye.  
  
This is the least they could do for him.  
  
"Injustice..." Wufei remarked bitterly. Quatre was crying, Duo's cheek had tears stain and eyes were all puffy.  
  
It would always have sounded funny to Duo and the others whenever he said that but not anymore – at least, not at the moment. Wufei fought the urge to cry as it was unmanly to cry. His ego won't allow it.  
  
Suddenly, Zechs entered the room. The 4 ex-pilots turned to see him as he stood looking at his sister comforting the Asian girl.  
  
"Une just contacted me and..." he paused, looking at their faces carefully, "Zeimer has captured all the colonies as well as earth with mobile suits as we speak," he stated.  
  
"That's impossible!" Relena cried, bewildered. Suddenly, Duo, Quatre and Trowa snapped up in alarm, "Zeimer'd never do such a thing!"  
  
Zechs said nothing but Relena knew her brother won't simply make up something like that – not at a time like this.  
  
"Then, what about Hilde, Dorothy and Cathie?" Duo asked.  
  
Zechs closed his eyes, "He got them too."  
  
"Oh no... Dorothy..." Quatre stared at the floor in disbelief. They all just lost a friend, are they supposed to lose their loved ones too? "Never..." Quatre suddenly looked up to see both Trowa and Duo look at him with an understanding look in their eyes. They nodded.  
  
"They took my best pal away from me..." Duo started, clicking his knuckles.  
  
Trowa took out a knife from his side pocket, "Betrayed us and made us look like fools."  
  
"Took away our loved ones..." Quatre added, fire blazing in his eyes.  
  
"And endanger humanity once again..." Wufei finished, "As Mariemaia once said, the beats of peace, war and revolution is to continue forever..."  
  
"Guess there could never BE peace..." Duo said, narrowing his eyes, blood oozing from the corner of his lips as he gritted his teeth too hard in a vein attempt to control his temper, "Someone will die..." he promised.  
  
Suddenly, Hera pulled away from Relena, "I'll go too..." she announced. All eyes stared at her.  
  
Relena turned to see her face, "Hera, I understand what you're trying to do, but you are just too young for this... Please understand, Heero wouldn't have wanted you to be hurt..."  
  
"No... it's you people who don't understand..." Hera replied harshly. That was when they fixed their gaze at the girl. She wasn't as bloodied as she looked when she first entered with Quatre although plasters covered practically 90% of her face. She looked up at them.  
  
"Who are you really?" Zechs breathed.  
  
Hera's eyes soften a bit, "I am the a 'New Year present' for father," she started, "I am currently the pilot to Gundam Wing." This earned her shocked faces from the women around her and if the men were surprised, (save Quatre) they didn't show any sign of it.  
  
"I am the 2nd Perfect Soldier..." she proclaimed.  
  
Silence. It took a while for everyone to digest this piece of information but it somehow sank in.  
  
"It won't be wise to rush headlong as you people no longer have your gundams," she explained, "we need a solid plan and the more effective and faster it is, the sooner can we get on with all this..."  
  
Everyone pondered at this for a moment. She sure sounded convincing; plus the fact that Heero's been with her, they don't see any reason to not believe her.  
  
"Ok, kiddo, we believe ya'," Duo finally said folding his arms, "But, you're missing a point here. Although we don't have our gundams, we could always..."  
  
"Unacceptable." She suddenly muttered, "You're trying to say that you'll simply steal some of the mobile suits. Well, I'll tell you one thing, what we're facing now is far more complicated than what you've all gone through."  
  
Everyone knitted their eyebrows, "Explain." Wufei piped in.  
  
She glanced around and her gaze finally fell on her late foster father. She took a few steps towards him and started explaining, "Zeimer Wargon, the mastermind of all this, seeks world and colonies domination not with oversized brute force," she turned to them once again, "He doesn't want revolution as Treize Kushrenada once intended. He wants conquest. By means... of PBV – Poison, Bacteria and Virus."  
  
That was unexpected. "The manufacturer, or researcher is a dangerous man known as Pierre Wallace... he was my mentor as Odin Lowe was Heero Yuy's," she elaborated. Everyone understood everything perfectly now. "And he's out there, on the loose, commencing his crazy scientific researches. He should've been dead but somehow stayed alive..." she said and turned to Heero.  
  
"Father is their test subject and by succeeding in killing the perfect soldier... they've achieved their greatest goal... next to world conquest..."  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
'As the final few leaves flew in the Autumn wind, the tree wasted away in dismay...'  
  
Please read and review – Lavender Gemini-  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


	9. The Unnecessary Brawl By Heero Yuy

Standard disclaimers applied. I'm sorry for the very late update as I am now studying as a pilot in UK, just as the G-boys are! However, in a more civilized way... Anyway, minna! Domo arigato for the reviews! Dewa, shall we continue with the story?

Duo was standing at the porch of the hospital which has suddenly transformed into a hotel of some sort thanks to the sudden Zeimer uproar. Gripped in his left hand was a can of beer.

The braided man looked down from the 13th floor he was in, sniffing as his vision clouded on him. He sniffed and rubbed his nose, looking up at the stars which were big and bright from the colony.

"Heh, guess you've found peace now, huh?" he said to the stars, his mouth quivering at the last sentence. "But, tell me, what justice is there in you dying like that?" He suddenly gritted his teeth, his grip hardened on the beer can and the railing. "You said that... god... I dunno what you said that made feel so... so..."

He let his head hang down. Little did he know, the rest of the G-boys were listening. Zechs too but in a distant, such that they couldn't see him.

Suddenly, Duo stood up straight. "But, you are not in peace, are you buddy? Not with all this..." he bit his lower lip, "Man... I still can't believe you're dead. Are you really, really, dead? By what? A couple o' dose of Cyanide, when you survived a gundanium explosion right on your butt!"

Duo was about to go on with his frustrations when someone cleared his throat behind him, "I always thought you were crazy but I think you officially lost it."

"Who asked for your god damned opinion, Wufei? Look, I am a so-called God of Death and is there not a way for me to talk to the other God of Deaths to delay his death just for a bit…?" he fought back the tears. "He's..."

A strong pair of arms suddenly whirled him around, grabbed him by the collar and rammed him to the wall, lifting him a good few inches of the ground.

"Quit sulking, you imbecile! What kind of a sissy man are you anyway! Or are you EVEN a MAN!"

"Wufei..." Duo grunted, fighting back a throbbing ache behind his head.

"He was my friend too, alright! You're not the only one who feels for his death – we all do! Now stop being a worthless piece of rotten meat that you are and focus, Soldier!"

Duo glared at Wufei as the Chinese man did the same. "You call yourself a friend when you won't even respect him at his death?" Duo screamed, giving a hard blow to Wufei across the face. Wufei staggered back in the semi darkness and braced himself as Duo rammed into him, causing both of them to topple over a sofa.

"What do you know about how I feel now! HUH!" Duo cried, frustratedly banging Wufei's head to the floor.

Wufei tried to get Duo off him when Duo yanked him up and threw him to the next wall. He managed to stop himself from crashing in when Duo came running into him. A crunch was heard from Wufei's arm, a sign of dislocation of the bone.

Wufei felt the surge of pain and reflexively changed it into an assault move by whirling around and back-fisted Duo by the left eye. Duo screamed out loud as he pressed the palm of his hand into his now aching eye, alarming everyone in the building.

As both men groaned and moaned in agony at the damage inflicted by one another, Noin came busting through the door with a gun. All she saw was the 2 men. She clicked the safe lock back on her gun and tucked it slowly away, "What on earth...?"

"Just what ARE you two trying to prove here at a time like this?" Zechs growled dangerously.

Wufei was sitting shirtless on a stool with a gag in his mouth. Trowa was behind him, slowly relaxing the muscles on his right arm.

With one swift, flawless movement, Trowa jerked on his arm, rewarded with a sickening snap. Wufei briskly shut his eyes but other than that, showed no sign of reaction to the intense pain – save for his perspiration right after.

Meanwhile, Duo was just beside him, on a hospital bed, holding an ice pack over an eye, looking up at the ceiling. Quatre was seated beside him with a laptop on his lap.

"While you two were on an unnecessary brawl, it would have been better spent on time planning on what to do next. Now we are simply benefiting the enemy by dantily hurting yourselves!"

Seeing no reaction from any of them, Zechs decided to just save his breath. No way was anything he said or will say change whatever happened.

Suddenly, Duo spoke up, "Hey Zechs, where's the little girl?"

"What?" Zechs was puzzled by the sudden question. "How does finding her get you out of the hell I am about to put you guys in?"

Duo sat up, "I need to sit down and talk to her."

"But, your eye..." Quatre started.

"What, this? No problem. I'll just get a patch or something. You guys coming?" he asked, without turning back to even see them and walked out of the door.

At the time, Hera was in the 'war room' where Quatre and the Maguanacs have most helpfully assembled for their use.

As she was typing away furiously, the computer flashed an 'accass denied' reply. She 'tch'ed' and worked her way to another terminal of main computer and started typing away. Again, the same response flashed before her.

"Damn you, Pierre!" she cursed under her breath. She did what looked like a frustration dance around the room when the door open and Duo entered. He raised an eyebrow.

The little girl straightened up, dusted away invisible dust from her skirt and skittled away to the nearest (and furthest) terminal to redo her typing.

Duo smirked and shut the door. "Hey, what cha doin'?"

"What do you want?" she asked and then faced him, "You sure you don't have more pummeling to do?" she asked sarcastically.

"Awe... aren't you the sweetest thing?" he cooed.

"Watch it," she warned and turned back to the computer screen. "Push your luck any more, you'll end up with another bruised eye."

Duo smiled a lop-sided grin, "Ok, I give, I'm sorry." He sat at a terminal adjacent to her. "So, have you found any cure for what we're up against?" he asked as he typed into pc which replied him with the same "Access denied" as Hera first received.

Hera smirked at his failure, "Ms. Po is doing that with Relena's help. As you might have noticed, I am just a 7 year old. Hence, my skills in the medical field is quite limited to just field injuries. Nothing deep like this." She replied with her ever soft voice.

"Yeah? Ok then... so, what have you got so far?" he asked as the door slid open, revealing Trowa walking in.

Hera turned her comfortable chair to face Duo, "As you were wasting time brawling..." she started.

"Wow, isn't she cute?" Trowa piped in smiling at Duo, earning a glare of death from Hera in the process.

"I have information to the whereabouts of Hilde Schbeiker, Catherine Bloom and..."

The door slid open and Quatre excitedly entered, "Hey guys! I found..."

"Dorothy Catalonia." Hera finished.

Quatre's face dropped. "Oh... you found it too, huh?" he asked as she nodded absent-mindedly.

"So, let's start planning." Trowa exclaimed, straightening up from the wall in which he had been leaning against, arms folded.

All four of them then huddled around and started their plan of infiltration to the place where they knew all too well was a trap just waiting for them.

There, I hope that wasn't a disappointing continuation I mean, come on, I have been out of this fanfic authoress business for what... nearly 2 years? Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this and stay tuned for more...!


	10. And The Drum Rolls

Please read and review. Thank you so much for the reviews! I actually had had a good brain storming and it got me all psyched up just thinking about writing this now! Thanks again for the reviews as it is like a dose of adrenaline to me:p

Zeimer stood before 2 huge portraits. One of the men in the picture was a long- bearded elderly man, once well known and a powerful politician, Roberto Peacecraft. His gaze shifted to the portrait next to him. This man is quite elderly as well, with shorter white beard and has a sad atmosphere to him despite the hard and stern expression he wore.

Looking at the picture made Zeimer realize just how similar did he feel deep down inside to this man. He hung his head, "You have been gone for a long, long time..."

Footsteps were then heard. Zeimer looked over his shoulder and saw Odin and Pierre walking side by side towards him.

Odin, with his scruffy face, buffy built and very tanned skin, was wearing a green military-like shirt with matching camouflaged dirty green pants with heavy, shiny boots, he looked every bit the ex-millitary soldier he once was save for the now obvious wrinkles around his eyes. His once dark brown hair is now bleached heavily on the sides of his face. The fierceness of his face was probably given by the ever present cigar and scar across his left eye. Scars scathed around his body mark his experience and adds to the effect.

Beside him was a pleasantly elegant Frenchman with long, sliky blonde hair which runs down his waist, tied neatly with a piece of white satin cloth with a nice fragrant about him. Could that be due to the fact of his French heritage or his own weird hobby of keeping himself ever clean like a woman, Zeimer could never be sure. He wears a white lab coat, pair of glasses and always seems to be wearing something white – even white socks and shoes. Tall, slim and pale, he didn't look anywhere near as deadly as Odin is but Zeimer knew better – this man is as deadly a killer as Odin Lowe is.

"Good morning." Pierre greeted.

"You're up early, Leo." Odin said puffing smoke from the cigar stuck between his teeth with a sling across his shoulder.

Zeimer smiled gently, "The same could be said for your smoking habit, my friend. How's that wound?" He asked with a gentle look in his eyes.

Pierre readjusted his glasses, "Like any old men, he's as stubborn as a brick falling, refusing to defy gravity when he can..."

Odin sweatdropped. "Just cos I'm a few decades older, don't give you young uns' the excuse to disrespect me, you know." He puffed yet another dose of smoke.

Zeimer can't help but sincerely grin at the sight before him. Then, he felt the presence of yet another. "Good morning." He greeted. "I hope you ladies slept well last night."

From behind the pillars of the great hall they were in, Dorothy and Hilde emerged. Both women had extreme caution on their face. But despite that, showed no fear at all.

Dorothy was the first to speak up, "Kind of quiet in here. No guards at all. Low budget?"

Zeimer's serene face was then transformed into that of the dictator's in a blink of an eye. "We don't need any guards for our cause. I will tell you this: it is much safer for you to be in here than out there. The exits are unlocked. If you wish to get out of here, you may but, your safety will not be guaranteed and as a friend of yours, I have no intention of hurting the loved ones of my friends who once protected me."

"That is some talk coming from a traitor." Dorothy chirped. "What makes you think the Preventers, Earth Sphere Alliance and The Colonies will not be on an uproar and come attacking you right here right now? How does that make us the safe prisoners, hm?"

Zeimer then advanced a few steps towards them. "My dear Dorothy. I couldn't have expected any less of the daughter of the aristocrat Catalonia family." He said sweetly, stopping 5 paces away from the 2 women. After some thought, he smirked. "Very well then, if you could follow me this way, you will soon understand as the rest of the world would. And the reason why I am so confident in myself..."

With that said he brushed past the 2 and started towards the door. Odin and Pierre then followed their leader, prompting Hilde and Dorothy to follow suit.

Wherever they were, Zeimer's stronghold was like a medieval castle with a touch of modern interior designing. The walls looked like huge chunks of rocks instead of bricks, flags and familiar crests decorated the walls of halls and corridors, a chilling quietness made the place look almost haunted and what Dorothy mentioned earlier and was confirmed by Zeimer himself – no guards.

"How are you so sure we won't escape?" Dorothy asked.

He kept walking, "Even if you did, it won't make any difference to me."

"And what if we tried killing you? How are you so sure we won't?" Hilde asked but quickly shuts up and regretted saying that as Dorothy flashed her a dirty look which read as, 'you bitch, you want us to get killed!' across her face.

At the last question, Zeimer stopped and looked back at them, "I was really looking forward to it, honestly. I don't THINK you will attempt killing me, I KNOW from the hate running through your veins that you will do it." He said. Dorothy could have sworn she saw a glint of sadness and loneliness in his eyes. "But, I am prepared for it." He smiled.

Hilde tore her gaze away from him, "And where's Cathy!"

Zeimer sighed, "I have no idea. She wasn't with you when Odin and Pierre came collecting you 2." The 2 women didn't look convinced. "Look, I don't expect you to be nice to me at all. But, I am just about through with this interview and I have an announcement to the whole world to make. So, if you could spare me from further questions..."

He turned around and opened a huge door with a shove. Inside, was a well furnished room with a high ceiling, flags of various crests hung down, a massive chandelier hanging right in the centre of the what seemed like perfectly square room. At the end of the room was a podium of sort with a crest similar to that of the Peacecraft's, sandwiched by 2 long windows which was overlooking a garden on the outside.

Hilde was quite amused by the old fashion-ness of their captor. She felt as though they were sent back through time to the olden days of Europe! She let her eyes roam free to check the whole room out. Though her fellow prisoner were quite disinclined to follow her lead, having been from a rotten rich family who used to own a country!

"Hey, Dorothy, there are loads of Peacraft's crests here, isn't there? Not to mention portraits of that family. What does Zeimer have to do with them?" She whispered.

Dorothy kept herself composed and looked on as Zeimer ascended to the podium. That was when she realized that the 2 men have vanished.

A camera was then lowered from the ceiling and stopped just a few feet away from Zeimer. It stared back at him at eye level. He cleared his throat...

Relena was in the 'morgue', reading her foundings at a desk in front of a pc with the cold body of Heero Yuy right behind her. Both she and Sally have been trying to work on the bacteria/virus- she couldn't quite tell as its characteristics resembled that of both; the whole night through.

She took off her glasses and laid it on the table after reading the final thesis from Sally and started massaging the bridge of her nose. She was very thankful that she spent an awful lot of time with Sally. Thanks to her, Relena has built up this interest in medicine and although her knowledge in this whole thing is not as vast as Sally's, it would at least suffice in this kind of research as it wasn't her first time working together with Sally anyway.

She looked behind her and sighed. She has been with him the whole night through, once or twice feeling as though he had woke up or suddenly disappeared as she intently researched his death cause. But no such thing happened – he was definitely dead.

She stood up and walked to him and caressed his cold, pale cheek. Never before has she seen him this pale before. She traced the curves of his face with the tip of her finger. He was still the most gorgeous thing she has ever set her eyes on even in death. Why did it take them this long just to be together?

"Heero..." her voice croaked, even she was surprised at the sound; and cleared her throat. "Honestly, I don't know what to feel." She confessed, realizing how crazy she must look. She sighed again.

"But if I am to put it into words... I must say, I am delighted because you are finally with me and I can freely be sincere, my heart feels heavy, filled with sorrow because you are gone," her mouth began to quiver but continued in barely a whisper,

"Disappointed because you kept running away," she sniffed as her eyes were clouded with unshed tears,

"Regret..." she squeezed her eyes shut and the tears dripped to his face, her hair too, cascading down to his face, "for not believing you..." her fingers quivered as she touched his lips "And anger... at myself... for still loving you..." She then sobbed her feelings away. "Heero, you bastard!" She cried, frustratedly banging her fist on the side of the bed with the other hand covering her mouth, whirling around, giving her back to him.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Zechs came in. Relena can't stop sobbing and Zechs noticed something else aside from her tears. There was something unusually shiny on her finger – a ring.

"Relena..."

Relena pushed past him and ran out the door. He didn't even make the effort to move. It was as though he was rooted to the floor. He reached for the doorknob, trying to shut the door without having to look inside but somehow, he did just that: looked inside at the face of the dead perfect soldier.

He was about to walk into the room when...

"ZechS!"

Alarmed, he ran out of the room, running to the source of the voice. He saw Noin rounding a corner and dashing after him as though a killer was hot on her tail. He embraced her as he ran into him. She then wriggled out of his grasp and grabbed him by the arm, "You have GOT to see this! Come on."

To be continued...

I thank everyone again for the great reviews! I will do my best and make this a very good story indeed so, keep reviewing so that I know someone is actually reading it! As for the questions by a fellow reviewer, it will be shown in time... so, keep reading and enjoy!


	11. For Better Or Worse

Standard disclaimers applied. I'm back and hope I will not disappoint in the continuation.

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As the people in the world continued living as though the devil had died, people in the colonies were in terror in the mercy of what seemed like a non-existent threat.

Particularly colony L2.

While the rest of the colonies turned a blind eye to their ailing fellow colony people, for fear, colony L2's populations were suffering from what seemed like common influenza. The only difference is, over 40 people; mostly the elderlies and infants; had been thrown into comas and worst of all, death.

Secret arrangements made by the representatives of the rest of the colonies were slow to succeed, general medications sent were not affective, safe guarding individual colonies were impossible simply because the enemies were microscopic. The streets were deserted, every home was bolted shut and within the Maguanac's private hospital, all was silent.

Hera sat in her terminal of the war room and stared into the plasma screen of the newly discovered film-star wanna-be.

Their television broadcast, as do the rest of the colonies, went static for the longest time, much to Hera's disdain. A message had been issued to everyone of a sudden interruption for a very special broadcast and popped back to perfect clarity with the Zeimer Wargon's face smack in the middle of it.

"Now what does he want...?" Hera thought, popping a drink open and tilted her head for a sip. The man in the screen stared back at her and she felt a sense of hate surfing its way from the depth of her heart.

Just then, her sharp ears which were all too sensitive to sounds, heard a pair of brisk paces approaching. She quietly made a bet to herself of who could that have been and won the satisfaction of getting them right. She rewarded herself with a second canned drink.

"You're just on time, Ms. Noin," she greeted with not so much as a nod of her head and swiftly turned to the other person beside Noin, "Mr. Peacecraft."

However, both Miliardo and Noin's eyes were plastered to the screen at Zeimer Wargon that the greeting went unanswered. Hera merely shrugged it off as she too, turned her attention to the speech.

"Hello." The speech began, "I do not suppose I would require anymore of introductions as I am quite confident that I have made quite an impression in the past and not to mention my most recent uproar in various colonies to earn your recognition."

"You bet you did, you son of a-"

"Milliardo." Noin hushed her fiancé.

"For the sake of formality, I hereby, stand before you as someone whom you knew yet not know."

---

Hilde and Dorothy stood silently still. Dorothy the very version of a serene statue, standing in a manner of perfect posture, holding her head high and chin up with her hands overlapping in front of her.

Hilde, however, leaned against a wall, constantly wearing a scowl, her arms crossed. Haughtily speaking a little too out loudly, "Get to the point already, we're cob-webbing back here."

Dorothy's lips curved into a slight smile of satisfaction at the blunt remark as did Zeimer but in a more defeated manner. Zeimer paused and caught a glimpse of Hilde behind the camera who stuck her tongue out.

Zeimer chuckled for a bit and straightened up.

"Very well then, allow me first to express my intentions. The tragedy that occurred in L2 was a mistake I wish not to repeat. It was merely a demonstration I am forced to take to ensure that certain things are made clear. Never have I intended on doing any of the people any harm - anymore. Unless if circumstances may have it, I may be left with no choice but resort to violence... Only when necessary."

He paused.

"My being here before you," he continued. "Was to get back what was rightfully mine. In fact, allow me to tell you a tale from a distant past."

Hilde was squirming at the back, "Oh boy, he's gonna start a long, dragging story, isn't he, Dorry? What is he? Some old fart?" She squatted down, pulling her head down as she did so. "When do you think will this end? Dorry?" No replies. "Dorry?"

Dorothy was looking at someone approaching behind them. From the moonstruck expression, Hilde dared herself to look. She grimaced when she saw who it was. Both women were utterly speechless. When the newcomer stood before them, only one word escaped Hilde's lips:

"Bitch..."

The person smiled, "Thank you, Hilde, that's awfully nice of you to define me."

"Lady Une..." Dorothy stated with her eyes narrowed. "I should have known..."

"I will not start explaining myself here. Everything will be clear after you listen to this." She replied calmly.

Hilde and Dorothy threw questioning looks but never left their gaze from Lady Une.

"Earth and colonies once and still are the same. One people, one leader and one order."

Hera was eating some Yan Yan biscuit sticks and dipped them in its chocolate dip before munching it down. Noin sat beside her, oblivious still to her actions. Milliardo, however, was glued at where Noin left him.

"He's a history teacher now is he?" Hera asked, unconsciously remarking sarcastically.

"Silence," Milliardo snapped, making the little girl throw a Yan Yan stick to him in disapproval of his lack of courtesy.

"Such was solely provided by the great empire of the Sanq Kingdom. The world was growing too populated and degrading far too quickly with the advancement of technology. The ruler at the time was wise enough to think for the earth and saved mankind by introducing satellite cities which we all know now as the colonies."

Another dramatic pause.

"And what was the thanks he received from it? A betrayal."

Everybody watching and listening to the speech stood in silence as they waited for the point of the whole story in which had most definitely caught their utmost attention. Although it basically has the idea of a madman trying to conquer all –forcefully; yet it was slightly different compared to the Treize or Mariemaia's objective of conquer. Everyone can tell this was leading to somewhere that runs deeper than petty 'conquer all' procession.

At the time, Relena was watching as well, only by accident as the television in the waiting room of the building sprang to life in the middle of her weeping. But that can wait. The very sight of him sickened her to the gut. She decided to glare hammers and stones at the television.

"By a man who sought peace by portraying himself a leader to represent the whole of the colonies. Do any of you know what the existence of this man has done to the Sanq Kingdom?" Zeimer raised his voice and pointed an accusing finger to the camera, much to everyone's surprise. The ladies in the hall with him were taken aback the most – save for Lady Une who said nothing nor expressed the slightest alarm.

Hera doused her hand into a basket of pop corn which seemingly popped out of nowhere and chomped a handful; Noin's hand immersing into it for a bite with her eyes still on the screen soon after. Milliardo was still where they left him.

Zeimer straightened up but did not appear cool. His eyes were burning with rage.

"This man was the cause of the war you had to go through. The discrimination of the people of the colonies, the dividing hearts of what was once one, the rise of the Kushrenadas, the gundams, everything. Should they all been under the rule of one government, do you think this sort of thing would have begun?"

He smirked, "And of course, the fall of the Sanq Kingdom, all in the hands of a so-called Peacecraft who was not even meant to sit on the throne. Your ex-queen of the world, Relena Peacecraft, given away to a presidential family of the world with her loyal brother, Milliardo Peacecraft once a war-crazed maniac running amok with violence an answer to everything, do you think this is a fit ruler? Was their father, Roberto Peacecraft, really the honorable ruler you were all led to believe?"

Zeimer 'hmph'ed and slowly walked towards the camera which inched back and followed him to the west wall where a portrait was elegantly unveiled through remote control with obviously another portrait beside it which was still covered by a long, flowing banner

Somewhere, elsewhere, 3 pairs of eyes widened in shock momentarily as they recognized the portrait instantly. Relena suddenly had the urge to run to her brother and left the television talking to the empty room.

Zeimer turned to the camera, "This man," he pointed to a man to the right, "Is the man who ruined the Peacecrafts. Attaining his position with tainted hands," His voice toned a pitch lower but nonetheless loud, "A murderer."

"And who was this unfortunate man betrayed, do you think?"

Anger rose and rose within Milliardo's whole being that it reached fever pitch and his knuckles clicked, trembling with the contained wrath. Hera was chewing on a bubblegum, blowing and bursting a bubble now and then.

As the man-in-screen wrenched the silky drapes down, Relena burst into the room and Hera's new bubble busted.

Zeimer stood straight and announced to the whole people of the colonies, "His elder brother, the previous ruler of Sanq Kingdom,"

His voice then toned down with gentleness too hard to genuinely believe is from him.

"Who is also my dear father, Alexander Peacecraft. And I am not Zeimer Wargon whom I have waltzed to be, I am Leonardo Peacecraft, the rightful heir to the Sanq Kingdom."

Hera slurped some spaghetti, making the sauce splat sloppily across her face, followed by a fully unintended burp.

"Oops, excuse me."

All 3 adults looked at her.

To be continued...

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How's this for a comeback? Hope I'm still in the ballpark. Please read and review. I'm struggling to try and bring you to the end in the most animatedly language I can afford to think of from my head.


	12. Escape

Standard disclaimers applied.

Thank you very much Tyrant good to be back too. First and foremost, thank you very much to my reviewers!

So now we know who and where our villain is. I had quite a mix-up of the place and time frame but the storyline's always up here haha. ANYWAY, I have things on track now and I have decided to actually finish this thing – not in the near future though...

I have a couple of reviewers whose hurt by our favorite leading character: p but it's all part of the story and I can't do anything about it. It's fated to turn out this way. So sorry bout that...

Anyway, please support the story and Gundam Wing!

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"You can't be serious?" Duo bellowed through the intercom to Hera's earpiece. She grimaced and took it off to let it stand at least an arm length away from her before she goes deaf over it whilst chewing her hair. The earpiece cracked to life again, this time a different voice.

"It must be some sort of delusion he's trying to advertise to everyone just to poison people's image of Relena." Trowa's voice now on the line.

Quatre's voice then replied to it, "I agree. But... there should be a ground to it, shouldn't there? A solid ground at that." He paused, "I do seem to recall Alexander Peacecraft ailing..."

"Hey...! Who's side are you on, Quat!" Duo's accusing tone was very hard to miss. And the nippy reply given by the poor man in question was of no miss either.

"No! No, All I'm saying is…"

There was a very busy discussion going on at the background, as well as her earpiece. Hera typed furiously on her terminal in an attempt to connect to the satellite she and Heero had found in Earth. No such luck. Apparently, her old friend had discovered their loop hole and was sharp enough to cover it up on time.

"Stupid Pierre." Hera breathed in frustration, rolling away from the terminal with the most disgusted 'ugh' she had built up ever since she tried re-hacking into the satellite. The only way to successfully doing this, she thought, was to get a good signal from earth. As to how to do it, she'll have to be count on the G-boys. She turned to look at the people by the door.

The heated 3-way argument made neither Zechs, Noin nor Relena realize they were the only human beings in the entire building. Every adult in the room was wasting precious time and Hera was beginning to feel a bit agitated by their display of uselessness.

She decided to leave them be as the political arrest that happened is more of a family matter nature. Her mind drifted to the plan they discussed last night.

"_Ok, so Zeimer's on Earth," Duo plopped comfortably into the settee, cupping his hands together with a loud clap, earning a warning look from Trowa to which he held his hands up in defense, "What else do we got? Aside from being sitting ducks?"_

_Hera smirked with her arms crossed, lazily spinning about her rotating chair, "What makes you think I know?"_

_Stretching on the couch, Duo yawned loudly, "Awe, I dunno, cos you're Heero's daughter?"_

_She stopped instantly, giving her back to them._

"_I'm sure you can help us – a lot. Bet you guys even knew about the ambush here. That's why you were here, right?" He added._

"_And the mobile dolls..." Quatre quipped. "Rasyid's surveillance with a few others confirmed of at least 8 of them in this colony. They are tactically situated around shuttle ports; so there is absolutely no way of leaving L2..."_

"_On top of all else, we need to find Hilde, Catherine and Dorothy too." Duo banged his fist into his palm and turned his attention to Hera._

_All they received was silence._

"_We might even want to consider moving out of here. Safe to say we could expect them to drop in here any time now." Trowa said, looking out of the window as well as his reflection which looked back at him. _

_He then approached Hera, taking up a kneeling position at her side, in such a way he could see her stoned expression for a face. He was quite sure this was going to take a long time. But it's time that they do not have. They have to know whatever she knows - fast._

"_Hera..." he started. Her eyes darted to his single visible eye and then just as quickly looked away. "All of us in here lost someone. We were too late to help Heero, with your help; it won't be too late to save more lives as well as our loved ones. Do you know something we don't?"_

_A long pause and then a nod. Behind her, Duo jumped in excitement and Quatre hissed a quiet, "Duo! Sit!"_

"_We need your help." He continued, using the most sincere voice he could muster which wasn't too hard as he was feeling quite sincere at this point to finding Cathy._

_Hera turned slowly around to face him. He put his hand out as though to touch her face but stopped inches away by the side of her face to twirl his hand and revealed a pink lollipop._

"_Please?"_

_She studied each face in the room. Quatre was wearing his puppy dog eyes, Duo looked at her hopefully, placing an icepack on his right eye and Trowa... with a candy. She took the lollipop from him._

"_I prefer blackcurrant." She informed him, eating the lollipop. Trowa smiled and stood up as she jumped off the rotating chair and waded to the settee where Duo sat. She took a pencil out of her pocket and a blank A4 paper from under the coffee table._

_Before anybody could say or do anything, Wufei burst into the room and saw all 3 men and girl in there. He had a sling on one arm._

_He smirked and eyed them shrewdly, "You disappoint me, I thought if you're doing a plan of attack of sort, you could at least invite me also." Despite saying that, he did not wait for them to roll him the carpet or worse yet, invite him in with them. His proud demur was expressed by merely being there._

_All sat silent as he sat on a lone arm chair near the coffee table. It was good old Quatre who made a feeble attempt of apology to the oriental man, "We thought you might like to rest up or something."_

"_Besides," Trowa began, "Given your injury, you are in no position to be of any use to our operations. You'll only be a burden."_

_The Chinese man scoffed in the most misbehaved way he knows and sharply replied whilst directing the speech to no one in particular, "I never said anything about joining your SACRED operations. You can go ahead, die with it by all means. I am merely here to assist and save time for you all to come up with a master plan to begin with. Or do your better judgments think my injury would hinder me from even THAT?"_

_Talking would only serve fuel to Wufei's wrath. "Ok, we're here," She said to break it up, in between smacking her lips with her newly acquired sweet and proudly turned Picasso. All three men bent down to a kindergarten drawing of what seemed like an odd-shaped keyhole._

_Duo can't help from stifling a laugh and just had to ask, "What is this?" which he received 2 kicks to the shin from Quatre and Trowa. That made him yelp which he dispelled quickly by clearing his throat. Wufei just arrived so he chose to ignore Duo for now. At least, until he stays there for another 10 minutes._

"_Obviously, L2, right?" Trowa saved. She nodded and continued drawing some distorted rectangles on 5 sides of the even more distorted keyhole._

_Through a mouthful, she started talking, "L2 has 5 exits, I'm sure you're aware of this," another smack out of her, "and there are currently 8 mobile suits inside the colony. Half of them are heavily equipped," a smack, " and are placed here," she drew a deformed circle around a rectangle nearest to her, "here," near Duo," here and here." She finished with 2 circles near Quatre and Trowa with a smack._

"_Hey, wait a minute." Duo suddenly dissented. He pointed the one rectangle uncircled by the little girl, "That part of the colony is an unoperational defense force base. Even if we can launch outta there, we'll be sure to be discovered and probably shot down before we even pass 20 mm out of here."_

_Hera looked at Duo, blinked twice and with not so much of a thought kindly informed him her opinion, "That's right, you will."_

_The braided man pinched the bridge of his nose and placed a hand on his hip, looking like a well-defined sculpture which carries the theme, 'what did I ever do to you?' "Y'know, the main thing's to get outta here – alive. Not minced meat."_

"_I was thinking if Mr. Winner could assist on this matter." Hera turned to meet Quatre's gaze who snapped his head up from his laptop screen with his reading glasses on. He wrenched the pair of glasses off of his face immediately, lifting his head up._

"_Me?"_

_Hera nodded and turned her attention to the other 3. "Maybe you guys can have a look around this area or something?" she circled the military ex-base she drew and all men nodded in agreement._

---

That's how it turned out last night. After more detailed discussions, they have decided to split into 3 teams.

Trowa with Duo paired as moles.

Quatre going solo on a reconstruction mission.

The third team was a newly established one only created that morning itself. Apparently, the 'tragedy' the newly found from a long lost journey Peacecraft was the epidemic. Sally and Wufei were to investigate the severity of such incident and to send reports to any known bio-research lab in the colony. Fortunately, there were quite a lot of Maguanacs Corp employees on the L2 to be on call at such short notice.

'The thing is, they are hardly scientists...' She narrowed her eyes and munched on some biscuits.

"Boot camp, this is Medic."

"Go, Medic." Hera replied, suddenly snapping her attention else where as her ears detected a most disturbing sound. 'Window glass breaking...' she thought. Judging from the looks of the Relena and her 2 cohorts, they didn't hear it. Hera narrowed her eyes and reached for her pocket slowly to retrieve a purple lollipop which she immediately popped in her mouth.

She got off her seat and walked to the balcony beside her, slowly. Somehow, the other 3 realized her cautious movements towards the balcony and straight away reached for their guns.

A feminine voice cracked in Hera's ears, "The virus is just a common flu which, I suppose with the intervention of some bio-engineering, is a kind which isn't infectious."

"Wha-? How the hell's that possible?" Duo's voice interjected, "I mean, not that it's a bad thing or anything, y'know..."

Hera was only half listening. Somebody broke into the ward below them and she very well knew that that's where Heero's body was. Instantaneously, she sprinted to the door and locked the door shut.

Relena's heartbeat raced as it dawned upon her of what was happening. "They found us..." she said, stating the obvious.

Noin turned to the nearest window, looking down from the 15th floor they were in, "They probably have the area around here blocked," her eyes followed Hera's scuttling movement about the room.

The little girl was like a mouse. Ever since she found out they were discovered, she locked every exit, shut all the drapes and disappeared under a computer terminal.

"What are you doing?" Milliardo demanded, literally rooted to the ground.

Hera resurfaced with a handful of canned drinks, "I thought we might all be thirsty." She stood up, shook the fizzy drinks and pointed it to the drapes, continually doing it using a different drink, "Oops, I like this flavor," and set it down next to her feet.

Her earpiece was static for a while before coming alive with Sally's voice; she decided to share the information with the adults. She went to speaker mode and Sally's voice filled the war room.

"L2 town is safe from the virus for now, some of the medications worked and..."

Noin flung to the computer, "Sally, we're discovered."

"What!" 6 voices simultaneously responded.

"Well, not to say we weren't expecting it..." Trowa's voice came coolly.

Milliardo stood next to Noin, "They'll be here any minute. Stuck without any reliable weapons or worst still, an exit, we are doomed."

"Or this could well be a chance to meet Zeimer." Relena added.

"Relena! We talked about this and trust me, He. Will. Kill. Us." Milliardo's voice stressed every word in his last sentence, voice dropping grimmer with every word. Relena wasn't the least fazed by it. She was about to retort something but was cut off promptly

"There are weapons in this room, find them. We're evacuating." Hera said over her shoulder which was strapped to a visibly huge shotgun if compared to her and jumped to stand on a stool to reach a protruding lamp on the wall, using it as a leverage to go to a corner, standing on the corniest on the wall.

Noin and Relena looked at each other at her acrobatic flexibility and continued to watch dumb-foundedly of what she was going to do next. Their hands slowly went up to their ears.

"Quatre, who else are in here?" Milliardo asked, exasperated, oblivious to the happenings around him, except for the footsteps he hoped he imagined to hear.

There was a long silence from the other line.

"Damn it." Milliardo cursed as the line just went static, "Radio interference bomb... I should've gue..."

A loud gunshot was suddenly heard, too near for comfort, as though it was (in reality, it WAS) behind him. His gun instantly flew to his hand and he dove for the settee. When he peeked to see what was going on, Noin and Relena were standing and looking at one direction which was where the sound came from. He straightened up as a coughing, dirtied with dust Hera jumped down.

"What the hell are you doing...?" the silver haired man didn't get to finish his sentence. She skittled over and shoved a toy-like remote control with a huge red button in the middle into his left hand.

"You do the honors. And if you ask me, pushing it when we leave this building would be most advantageous." She then pulled both Noin and Relena by the hands to the corner with the newly blown hole on the ceiling, "And did you find the weapons I told you to look for?" She asked them; to which they shook their heads no.

Hera paused in mid-track and did a frustration dance around them. As a finale to it, she tossed the lollipop to the floor. Just as well, their enemies reached the door and clunks were heard coming from the balcony, probably hooks for ropes.

"Up here, hurry!" Hera ushered them and Milliardo assisted in their escape. Hera was up first, where a rope slid down. Next up was Relena, then Noin and finally Milliardo himself. Hera pulled the rope and left a little booby trap on the hole. Not so much of a bomb but was enough of a shock.

"How are we supposed to escape now?" Noin queried as they got down on all fours, blindly following the girl through a vent and up a ladder. Below them, the door was busted open, the balcony sliding glass shattered with semi-machine gun; which Hera recognized instantly; and rough voices searched for them.

All 4 of them rushed up the ladder as fast as they can and just as Noin started climbing in the pitch blackness of the situation, crackerjacks were heard followed soon after by a man screaming and a heavy thud.

Hera smiled in satisfaction and Relena can't help but feel amazed, "Did Heero teach you to do that?"

"The crackerjacks? Of course not. He'd have killed all of them. I'm just being a good..." A small thud was heard when Hera's head made contact with the hard metal. "Ow..." A soft whimper was heard in the dark. There was an additional thump which was her form of revenge to the metal access which no one saw her do

The air suddenly felt fresher upon the unbolting of the exit. Hera's hat was blown in the wind, "Here we are! Let's go!" Hera raised her voice much to the surprise of everybody. They were in for a bigger surprise when they saw their 'escape'.

"Hang gliders?" Milliardo stated meekly, cocking his head to one side.

As much as he'd love to stay and argue about the unfavorable choice of escape, he had no choice at the moment except oblige to this or die in the most embarrassing way he knows.

"They'll shoot us down at sight!" Milliardo concluded after everyone was just about ready to go. He was with Relena, Noin with Hera.

"Push the button before you go!" Hera yelled. Those were her only words before Noin unlocked a buckle strapping the hang glider and the wind picked them up and away instantly.

Milliardo looked at Relena. She was looking back at the door they just got out of.

"Relena!" He called, jerking her by the arm. Her eyes were glistening with tears.

"Heero..."

Milliardo hugged his baby sister but stopped soon after it started. The enemies were nearing them.

"Hold on tight." He ordered her as he unbuckled the strap and soared into the air. Relena let out a surprised yelp at the sudden fleeting feeling of flying. Milliardo reached for his pocket and pushed the button.

What happened next was devastating explosion which can be heard and seen from miles and miles away.

To be Continued...

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	13. What's The Next Move?

Standard disclaimers applied. Tyrant and Serene, I would like to dedicate my thanks here to you 2 in particular for following the story this far!

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Somewhere on Earth, Zeimer was in what looked like an office, holding a glass of red wine overlooking a beautiful greenery with the sun setting, spilling orangey blood to everything it was capable of reaching. Shadows formed in certain grovey area where most of the afternoon buzz of insects would most probably come from.

As he sat on his balcony, savoring the afternoon air, someone entered his vast office.

"I am despised, as usual." Lady Une's voice pierced the music of the evening.

Zeimer's response was not so much of a ghost of a smile which she failed to see due to the fact of her unfavorable position. "The cicadas... they're early." He finally uttered, sipping his wine and standing up to face his new guest. He smiled. Lifting the glass slightly, he motioned her to a drink; which she refused with a soft shake of her head.

"No, thank you."

After that, the sound of the early cicadas and the cool evening breeze were the only things alive. They dropped to a deathly silence.

"Something on your mind Lady Une?"

A pause, an exasperated sigh and then a whole blurt of a conversation ensued, "Do you really need to have them killed?"

"Yes." He moved to his mini bar to refill his glass.

"Why?" Lady Une asked sharply.

"Because they have murdered my father and in a way, myself," Zeimer let his glass down, forgetting about his drink momentarily to face the female standing before him. A dark shadow befell his face, "I thought you being by my side shows your full support of my doing this."

"Their father was at fault, not them."

"So which is it? You're saying I act as though it never happened?"

"You are the rightful heir to the throne anyway, you've nothing to..."

"A throne that they capsized? There IS no throne anymore. I have to rebuild everything again!"

"Which I will assist you for, by your side, for all times. Killing them will not change anything – people would even look at you as a bad example if you d..."

Ldy Une stopped short when Zeimer turned sharply to look at her and channeling what a death glare come true should she not watch her tongue.

She looked down, "I'm sorry, I have forgotten my place... But I do hope you will reconsider your resolve to-"

"I have been planning this since the day my father died." The room suddenly felt heavier. The slow and nearly soundless steps he made were like fluid – smooth and elegant. Lady Une dared herself to look up into his eyes when he was right in front of her.

His gaze weren't cruel. It was more of a lost soul's. He recognized those eyes. She has seen them many times. Heero, Duo, Quatre, Trowa and Wufei were to name a few, Zechs, Relena, Mariemaia, even on some occasions, Treize are for bonus.

Treize. The name struck her heart like a rapier. Her gaze fell to the shoes again to hide the pain she suddenly felt. Zeimer touched her chin and tilted her face up so they see eye to eye.

"Lady..." he began, his voice like steel yet weak and brittle as a castled cards. "Every beginning is always difficult. I am aware of them being your friends. They are still my friends too, shares the same blood that runs in my veins, even." He sighed, gaze dropped to the floor and back at her, "But, as it is, they have been my enemy far longer than they have otherwise. Everything that I went through, you had no idea. If you were to experience it, I doubt you'd forgive and forget that easily."

Lady Une opened her mouth to speak but no sound came. This kind of despair and rage for revenge was something she is all too familiar with but there she was, powerless and pitiful. All she was capable of doing for now was hang her head in shame.

Zeimer took it as a submission and embraced her. An interference on the door brought them back to reality.

"Hello, my apologies for the intrusion." Pierre and his heavy French accent stepped into the room. His presence never failed to impress Lady Une. Even as he walked towards them, he looked as though he _floated_ his way in. With the almost pretty smile he constantly had on his face, the sweet smell about him, his wispy, melodic voice and not to mention an almost impossibly achieved cleanliness; it definitely does not reflect upon his deathliness.

"Not at all, Pierre." Lady Une stepped aside to head to the minibar to get some drink while the two men started talking business.

The angelic man held a folder, "I have a lot to report," he smiled while patting the folder in his hand. Turning to Lady Une who had her back to him, his voice rang across the room, "Please feel free to stay and listen, me Lady," he bowed elegantly. She can see that he had everything calculated for, the angle of his hands, feet and head, strands of hair that move, his eyes, etc.

She replied with a mere nod whilst gulping on her whiskey, refilling it with some extra and seated herself to watch the special breaking news he has to offer. A switch was hit from Zeimer's table, darkening the room to absolute darkness save for the slight copper dusk that seeped through his glassed window and balcony.

A projector buzzed down from the ceiling, "First on the agenda is Odin Lowe not being with us. Out of impulse, Mr. Lowe had volunteered to personally lead the ambushing team and is currently in colony L2."

Zeimer nodded as the projector showed L2's live status. Une noticed something burning in the live footage. But it was Zeimer who spoke first.

"What happened there?" a red dot appeared on the wall at the location for the fire.

Pierre smoothened his hair back and pursed his lips. "That's the location where we found our targets were hiding in. We were left with some deaths..."

"How many?" Zeimer cut in.

Pierre turned to face him fully, "4 dead, 3 injured, Odin missing," he paused for a while to check on Zeimer's expression and he knew full well that the piece of news was not the least bit pleasing to his new future king. "The building was empty. We thought there will be some traps... However, the plus thing is they are very well scattered and hence are easy targets to capture – which, if I may add, might not be something to belittle of." He added in a light tone.

Right after that, he turned to change the projector to another picture; this time showing all 5 major colonies at once.

"No shuttles were seen entering or leaving L2. It is all on its own: the other colonies chose not to interfere. And that's not the best part," there was pure sarcasm in Pierre's voice, Zaimer's eyes darted to his, "Of course, Colony reps and guerilla groups are popping up like mushrooms in the colony." He chuckled.

Silence hung in the air momentarily as both Lady Une and Zeimer waited for the scientist to continue.

"And... we are sitting here, not doing anything... why?" Zeimer asked lazily. A frank smile from Pierre solved everything already.

"Don't worry bout that. Oh, before I forget, the most important thing for you to do right now: I have arranged for your next move," he put up a projection of numerous faces where Lady Une recognized some as ex-Oz, ex-Romefellar, Relena's ex-board of committee as well as some ex-Peacecrafts' cabinet members. "I have scheduled a meeting for you – next 2 weeks. They're the ministers you wanted. As we have discussed, to have the president step down with his democratic rule and transform the world into a monarchy will take a long time in trial and court. Plus, there's also the people's revolt you would have to endure through, we'll need every trick in the book to gain the people's love and trust."

Zeimer nodded. Pierre then moved on to what seemed like the most pressing matter of all.

"I want to hear this from you one last time, Leonardo Peacecraft," Pierre moved from his spot and leaned onto the biggest office table in the room, his gaze pierced into Zeimer. He realized there was no turning back now once the decision is made. Pierre moved in to ask the question, "What do you plan on doing to your former allies?"

Zeimer shut his eyes momentarily, chin resting on his entwined fingers, "I will..." he began. After a moment of consideration, he made his choice, "I will execute my cousins, Relena and Milliardo Peacecraft for their father's infidelity in the name of justice. To regain the good name of the Peacecrafts. As for my former friends, they stay my friends till they come for my head."

A nod. "Ok then, that is how it will be done." Pierre straightened, "It's probably best for you to start resting now, Leonardo. For you might never get the luxury of doing so in the future." He bowed a low bow and turned to leave the room.

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Meanwhile, Duo and Trowa were under an igloo of what seemed like a mountain of junks. Duo constantly banged on his ear, following the explosion they saw even from the edge of the colony. Trowa sat in silence as he watched the flame and smokes fouling the air through a hole which was barely big enough for his head to get out of.

His partner beside him was grunting and cursing away under his breath. Screaming _"Come on, work!"_ for the comms to start working again.

"Give it up, Duo." Trowa shifted his gaze from outside at the smokes to Duo in the cave, "Hera did the escape plan, destroyed the computers and comms," he took off his earpiece and tossed it away carelessly.

"Hey, hey, man, come on, have some respect for the thing," Duo went over to pick up the earpiece as though it was a nestling fallen from its nest, "you never know when you might need it."

Trowa made no comments on that and started picking up his shotgun, "We'll keep heading to the Central Colony Control. Our best bet for now is they are safe because Zechs and Noin are with them. A bonus for us also would be Hera blasting off, killing Zeimer and get our job cut out for us. So, there's nothing to worry about there."

Duo nodded sullenly, thoughtful and contemplating. Even if they can't establish contact with Hera, they should still be able to talk to Quatre but the Arabian man failed to respond. Why was that?

"What about Quatre? Everything's fine if we're mobile, like us, Wu-man and Sally," seeing Trowa rustling away from the 'cave', Duo followed his lead, stumbling upon a shard of glass. He emitted a soft ouch and paused to see the blood oozing out of his cut palm.

The place was literally like an igloo that they were forced to be on fours to move from one place to another.

Trowa paused, "You all right?"

Duo waved a hand absent mindedly, and tied his hand with the first cloth like thing he saw from around him while Trowa continued forward, "I mean, Quatre is staying put in one place. Now, I live in this 'dump' of a home. And I know almost every nook and cranny. I can only name a few well hidden underground facility which; by the way; is not at all safe. The same kinda ambush might happen to a weak stronghold. So, how's he gonna get out of trouble if he stumbles into 1?"

The mono-eyed man in front of him stopped to examine what looked like a remote control from the rubble. Not listening to a word Duo had just uttered, he tossed the piece of junk over his shoulder which Duo picked up and placed in his bag for safekeeping inattentively.

Either Duo was in an exceptionally motherly mood that he's producing progesterone and is having a period or he was just trying to annoy Trowa by stating the obvious; unconsciously of course; Trowa thought the best course of action would be to play along and make this a short, sweet full stop.

"If there's trouble, Quatre'll figure a way to get out of it." Duo would have run right into his partner's buttocks who stopped so suddenly but luckily, he was spared the inappropriateness, "Cathy should be with Zeimer, I would imagine. And I'll bet he won't harm any of the girls so long as we don't appear too much in their radar." He smirked, "Which isn't quite possible considering what we're about to do."

Duo nodded skeptically, "I hope you're right, man. I hope you're right..."

"C'mon, we have some work to do." Trowa smiled slightly.

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"Yes, I need you to help me secure any lines we have. Plus, we might need some form of extraction out of here. The facilities in this colony is abundant but will take time on the refining bit." Quatre was pacing about a warehouse, one hand slapped on his forehead while the other flying about in an attempt to express the graveness of the current state they were in to the non web-cammed mobile phone he has; set on hands-free mode.

He sighed, tilting his head back in frustration for the stiffening neck threatened to make him cranky.

"I understand your situation, Mr. Winner. But sending shuttles to L2..." a female voice replied from the other end.

"Look, I don't have _time _to entertain your concerns of the enemies," Quatre retorted through gritted teeth, clenching his fingers into Einstein's claw-like crooked ones. "All I asked were some secured lines and a shuttle of some sort to help get us out of here. Disguise it as a medicine cargo ship, I don't _care_, Mirsha. I need to get to L3!"

The lady in question, Mirsha was a dark haired, freckled and bespectacled Arabian secretary of the Maguanacs Corporation's main building. She was sitting in her cool office, receiving the full impact of her boss' wrath through a badly transmitted phone call. The only thing which made it clear of her being in her boss' bad side was the fact that he had raised his voice. Other than that, everything sounded like gibberish to her. Luckily she managed to get the important points like 'secured lines' and 'shuttle'.

"I understand sir, I will advice you of the transport when it's ready." She said finally.

"Ohh... _Thank you _Mirsha... Call me in 2 to 3 hours."

Mirsha hung up and sat silent for a while with the TV switched on. News of the new ruler from the long line of Sanq kingdom, to whom the people of the colony were all indebted to was like hot cakes; filling every breaking news, headlines and not to mention the talk of the day, on every colony channel but no transmissions from earth at all. There was some sort of a communication cut of some sort. Mirsha picked up her phone and dialed a number.

The receiver answered after the third ring, "Oui?"

Mirsha took off her glasses, "I can send you Quatre Rebarbe Winner."

A faint, wispy chuckle replied, "How soon can you deliver him?"

"I'll keep in touch," she replied and replaced the phone.

To be Continued...

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Haha, I guess this hasn't got anything interesting in it:p Oh well, it's a filler's chapter but I hope you won't stop reading and supporting the story! – More to come soon. Thanks for the R&R!


	14. Series Of Strange Event

As usual, standard disclaimers applied.

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Morning.

The most crucial thing for him to do as soon as he woke up was:

Stand at his balcony for 20 minutes to enjoy Vitamin E, go over to his washing closet to wash his face, brush and floss his teeth, mouth wash with Listerine for exactly 2 minutes, take a bath in a flower-filled bath tub and last but not least, standing half-naked in front of his cylindrical capsule, Pierre Wallace proceeded forward and his morning was thus complete.

The conditions of his room where he does the initial cleaning was filled with buckets and buckets of sunshine while his final morning routine next door was a dark, cold place with neon baby blue lights emitting and fading in a steady heart-beat like rhythm. The door behind him slid shut, blinding him momentarily.

After 30 minutes inside the capsule, Pierre stepped outside only to receive the shock of his life.

"Odin!" He exclaimed in shock, his hands busy knotting the towel which seemed to elude his slender fingers' grips, "I didn't hear you come in."

Odin looked older than he usually does, cuts which were professionally bandaged or plastered everywhere, smell of blood and gunpowder emitted heavily from him. He wore a bored, brooding look, lighting a cigar without a care in the world. Pierre pursed his lips and furrowed his eyebrows at the intruder.

"What brings you to my room and most of all, my _lab_, so early in the morning, you smelly man? You know I don't entertain anybody before 8:30?"

Odin looked at his watch non-chalantly, not even listening to the rude remark thrown at him without dropping the thing he was carrying over his shoulder.

"It's 10 to 8:30," he replied gruffly.

"Exactly, it's _not_ 8:30 and I might have to push it to 8:40 if you don't give me my privacy," Pierre has always spoken in a French accent but that morning, he forgot his heritage and was talking in an almost true blue American slang that Odin speaks.

Odin stayed rooted to the spot and made a perfect 'O' out of his mouth with the smoke, not listening to a word the Frenchman had just uttered.

"8:45," Pierre said, glaring daggers at his guest. "We can keep this up all morning and Leonardo will never notice we're not around," he added prudently seeing how stubborn the older man can be.

Finally, Odin started to move; much to Pierre's relief; but in the wrong direction; much to his dismay. Conclusion? – definitely dismay. Pierre huffed a sigh of defeat, telling himself to be a gentleman and respect the elderly and all. He stormed to the exit but turned before he vacated the room to Odin who plopped the thing he carried at a far end of the lab.

"And stop that smoking at once before you sound zhe alaarm, you zilly man!"

The whole lab was bewilderingly bright for an instant and after the door slid shut; it was engulfed in complete darkness once more. Odin puffed some more as he waited for the scientist to come back, looking down at the corpse in front of him.

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It has been a few weeks since Zeimer Wargon; now known as Leonardo Peacecraft made his announcement. In L2, life went back to normal, thanks to the 'clear' which both Sally and Wufei had issued to the public as representatives of Relena's Medical Trust. As things turned out, people of L2 were definitely supporters of Relena Peacecraft. Though her whereabouts was unknown.

The streets were buzzing again as though nothing had happened; although the fact that changed was merely the existence of mobile dolls and that some people died because of an unknown bio-weapon. News of happenings in L2 broadcasted everywhere where people of the colonies hoped would attract attention from the Earth Alliance. Little did they know, no broadcasts or signals from the colony could ever reach earth; given the current situation.

Sally and Wufei were walking down the streets in a sea of people, all on their own. He walked ahead, holding her hand so they don't get separated. The team of Maguanacs with them had mysteriously deserted them without a word following the explosion of the hospital. So now, they're on their own.

That afternoon, they settled for lunch under a bridge. A canal ran under it. Wufei munched on his sandwich while Sally did a lot of food staring.

After 10 minutes with no development of her posture, Wufei decided to ask before things get ugly. A typical example would be her complaining how inconsiderate he was to not care about her or even bother ask what she was bothered about, "You wanna eat something else?" he asked innocently.

Sally slowly looked up at him munching on his food, smiled and took a bite of her food. A very small one. She wasn't looking at him and he was finding this little game a little silly.

He rolled his eyes heavenwards, "Is there something you would like to share with me? Sally?" there was definitely strain in his voice as he said that. Sally smiled inwardly at the thought of him trying to appear caring despite his ego and machoness. A side of Wufei which she knew made for her eyes only.

"Nobody is sick around here anymore." He wasn't too sure if that was a question or just a statement. Neither was he sure what she was getting at by saying that. Cars were passing by above them and from the sound of the engines, there was a traffic jam going on.

"That's a...?"

"Good thing." Sally finished the sentence for him, nodding and taking a bite off her sandwich.

Wufei nodded in agreement, "Yes, of course."

Suddenly, without warning, Wufei bolted off the ground, dug his hand into a bush, dragged a stranger out of it and threw him into the river. The stranger sat in the shallow river, rubbing on a bump which was forming on his head. As he looked up, his neck was met with a long katana and a gun click from Sally who was now standing from her spot.

"You've been following us," Wufei stated accusingly. The stranger looked up through his robber's mask, face and hair concealed. Sally noticed the stranger was merely a boy who couldn't be more than 15 judging from his physique. She clicked the lock back on her gun but quickly unlocked it again when another rustle came from the bushes where Wufei pulled the stranger out of.

Rapid footsteps were heard on the midst of the heavy traffic on the bridge. Sally closed her eyes and sighed in relief when Catherine jumped out of the bushes.

"Cathy..." She breathed, going over to hug the curly haired woman who changed her wardrobe into a pair of hot pants jeans and a white tank top. That was when Sally noticed a bandage on the other girl's left shoulder.

"Sally!" She hugged her back, utterly overjoyed to see her, "Finally! I've been searching for you for the past week."

While the ladies settled with a chit-chat, Wufei narrowed his eyes, "Take off that mask and face me like a man."

The boy slowly stood up, smirking behind the mask mockingly at Wufei, "So you've changed too." The voice was saying, slowly reaching up to his mask. Something about his voice gave Wufei chills up his spine.

"Who are you...?" Wufei asked in a hoarse whisper. His question was answered in a shocking revelation as the mask dropped to the river and was carried away by the stream. Wufei felt as though his soul left his body as there, standing in front of him was unmistakably Heero Yuy. The should have been DEAD Heero Yuy.

Sally saw this too and yelped in shock at the sight of him, her body trembling and mouth quivering. She SAW him die. She was the one who operated him. She was the person who saw him take his last breath. If she was to believe the boy standing on the river was Heero Yuy, she definitely needs to make an appointment to the nearest available shrink before she loses her mind – completely.

Catherine looked at Wufei's back who was as still as a statue and then at Sally, who's face was drained off any colors and was shaking all over. She raised an eyebrow and grinned in amusement.

"You 2 look like you just saw a ghost, you guys ok?" she waved a hand in front of Sally's face who registered no positive response and then went over to Wufei who caught her hand before she could even do that and lifted his katana accusingly at the boy.

Catherine whimpered as Wufei's vice-grip on her hardened with every ragged breathing word that came out of his mouth, "You're lying. You can't be him, who are you?" Catherine noticed the terror in his voice, the rasp breathing of anxiety and she thought his eyes appeared more glistened than normal.

The boy counted to 7 before he answered, "I'm Heer..."

"You're lying!"

Wufei back-fisted the boy before he could finish saying his name. The fake Heero fell into the river with a big splash and Catherine shrieked in horror at what Wufei had just done.

"Wufei! What's got into you? That's Heero!" She cried, wriggling away in his grip. Soon enough, Wufei released her hand but went over to the fallen boy who was picking himself up. Sensing the man behind him, Heero splashed some water to Wufei's face, tripped him and wrestled for the katana, drowning Wufei's face into the water.

Catherine went over to Heero and pulled him off Wufei, while Sally stopped Wufei from decapitating Heero because he would have lunged for both Heero and Catehrine should she not be there to hold him back. Wufei glared venomously at the boy in front of him.

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At the same time, on the same colony, a distant away...

"Duo, duck!" Trowa shouted and launched a bazooka on his shoulder, staggering back slightly at the force. Duo got up to his feet and ran after Trowa who threw the bazooka down for the sake of fast and easy running.

"The stupid thing was on my blindspot!" Duo recharged his bullets as he ran and clicked it shut.

"Then take off the eyepatch! You look ridiculous!" Trowa retorted, gunning away a few more guards along the way. They stopped to catch some breath near a window; Trowa looking into his PDA to see the location of the heart of the Control Centre.

Duo pulled a hand grenade's lock with his teeth and threw it out of the small window beside him, shredding a mobile doll below into half. The patched man wore a huge grin, giving a thumbs up and what would have been a wink should he had both eyes visible. Trowa shrugged a 'whatever' and continued on with Duo at his heels as bullets showered where they stood/sat a few seconds ago.

Finally, they hid behind a wall next to a door. Duo stayed standing behind the wall to shoot down the guards while Trowa kneeled to get the door opened. After a while of gunning and fast losing ammo, Duo turned to his partner,

"You there yet?" He noticed Trowa grunting away at the wires which he pulled out of the entrance ID's motherboard.

"They changed it...," things were getting rougher by the minute, Duo has finished the last of their home-made grenades and after a few more shootings, the gun went silent with a click followed by a heavy shower of bullets from the enemies.

Duo 'tch'ed, "I'm running low, man," he took out the shells on his semi-auto and replaced it with a new set, "My last one."

After a few more twists of wires of no avail, Trowa took his semi-auto and assisted Duo in the fire fight.

"What are you doing?" Duo yelled over the noise of heavy guns.

"The door's a no-go," he shot a man right by the knee cap and the man fell on the ground, his gun clattering next to him, "So now, we move to plan B."

Duo emerged from his wall, shot a few more men and hid back in, "I hate plan B's cos nobody ever bother telling me what it is!"

"Cover me..." he paused and waited for the gunning to die down. "Now."

Duo rolled out of his hiding place and went trigger happy while Trowa made a mad dash towards the enemies' hiding place; behind a wall a few hundred feet away from them. He caught them by surprise. By the time they realized he was next to them, Trowa had knocked a man unconscious, shoot a man by the shoulder and kicked a man out of a small window from the tower-like place they were in. However, Trowa was in for a surprise when an unaccounted final man lunged out of nowhere, choking Trowa from the back.

Trowa tried breaking free and hit the man as hard as he could but to no avail. He felt the air cut off him and the rest of the air in his lungs were squeezed out just as effectively. The grim, heavy feeling washed over him as he braced for what's to come. Then, a gunshot was heard. Trowa fell forward and onto his knees, coughing away and hyperventilated for the much needed air. He held his neck which felt very numb. The man plopped beside him with a pool of blood slowly forming on the floor.

Footsteps approached him and a hand touched his shoulder to haul him on his feet.

"You alright?"

A nod and they were off running again. They returned to the door which refused to open for them. There were no signs of enemies as of now and they've picked up quite a few ammos and guns along the way. Which means there's some precious quiet time for them to fiddle with the door.

This time, Duo tried the door, "Give it up, Duo, I tried it and..."

"Stand back!" Duo yelled, running for cover. Trowa stood baffled momentarily before he looked down and realized what it was Duo did. In front of the door was a black, round gadget which hissed with a protruding wick on fire, shortening ever so threateningly.

"Damn!" Trowa cursed and dove for the nearest other side of the wall where Duo waited in a squatting position with his ears covered and eyes closed. After 3 seconds, a mediocre explosion boomed on the other side of the wall. Duo raced to the door and upon seeing the door, Trowa raised both eyebrows. He can't resist from saying nothing as Duo tried the 'entrance'.

Trowa covered his lips with his hand in sheer amusement as the wall was only the size of a mini cat door which he and Cathy had at home – which; Duo was squeezing through. Somehow, the man before him managed to get in halfway while his lower half; particularly his ass, was stuck.

Duo continued grunting away at the sizable ass he had and the unbelievably small entrance he created with his low-grade home-made bomb. Somewhere in the distant, were the sounds of rapid footsteps and voices. They will be caught if Duo doesn't get to the other side soon, he thought. Trowa then stood behind Duo, ready to kick. Instead of doing so, he smirked, a fast smart-ass comment emerging from him,

:"Gosh, Duo, you've one heck of an ass, what size are you?"

"Thanks," he replied, out of breath. More grunting and then the struggle ebbed, "Care to gimme a hand?"

Trowa smiled a lope-sided grin, "You want me to touch your ass? With my hand?"

Duo went silent, an image of Trowa pushing his ass in with his hand bubbled. Obviously, he won't ask Trowa to kick his butt but on second thought, having another man touch his ass was more disturbing...

"Fine, help me push in with your feet. Just don't touch my tushy!"

"Tushy?" Trowa was in the verge of laughing to tears at this point. Had it not been the sound of soldiers coming nearer, he would have stayed and tortured Duo some more.

"Just help me through already!" Duo whined and cried, his ass wriggling with his every writhing.

A sharp kick to the left ass cheek and Duo was in, immediately rubbing on the throbbing pain. After he slid in, Trowa slithered in without any trouble, smiling an innocent smile which says it all: 'You're fat, Duo'. Duo merely glared, gritting his teeth at the unibanged man.

A sound came from the terminals and what wasn't there suddenly appeared. Both men; based on pure instincts, they trained respective guns at the newcomer who obviously hid in the vent.

"You're late," the person remarked, resting her gun on her shoulder, "So you were the ones who set off the alarms."

"Hera!" Duo exclaimed in surprise, lowering his gun, "You made it out ok!"

The little girl pouted with her eyes on fire, "Of course I did," she huffed, facing away from him, fishing something out of her pocket, bringing the wrapping paper to her lips and popped in a new cube in her mouth. She threw the old ones into a wastebasket ever so modestly.

"It's not good to litter," she explained with a shrug as Trowa and Duo observed her behaviour. Both men bobbed their heads, a single thought running in their head,

'We're not scrutinizing you...'

Duo dusted himself up, "So, you've done everything we were supposed to be doing, huh? Does that mean we could just pack it up and leave now?"

Just then, a dog came running through the entrance and towards Hera who was on a railway track from the door. Somehow, at the split second, Trowa noticed the dog carrying something red and beeping away on its back.

"Take cover! It's a bomb!"

Duo immediately rushed to kick the dog when a voice from behind him screamed something.

"Fetch boy!"

Duo fell backwards comically as a single sausage flew in the air, past everyone and out through the entrance. The dog ran out and soon enough, an explosion followed, multiple cries heard mixed with the booming sound.

When the smoke around them had subsided, the trio in the Central control room looked up to see the door completely demolished and body parts just about everywhere on the outside. A ruffling sound was heard coming from the main panel. Duo and Trowa looked at Hera.

"Aum..." she looked at the 2 with her now unbelievably big eyes innocently and extended her hand which held a bag of potato chips, "You want some?"

To Be Continued...

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I enjoyed writing this chapter, do u like it? R&R


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